WILL ALL-PURPOSE REFINED FLOUR OR MAIDA BE GLUED TO OUR GUT LINING IF WE HAVE IT
- Ananya Sharma
- Feb 21, 2024
- 2 min read
Updated: Apr 5, 2024
Hello, Everyone!
As the world of food and nutrition has evolved with time, our mindsets and perceptions regarding what we are having and what we should have too have become more focused on what is contributing to our health and what is harmful to overall health. Is the food which we are having, contributing nutrition to our body or being a potential threat to our health. One such food that always has been in the spotlight regarding its potential health dangers is All Purpose Flour –Maida and there have always been a lot of misconceptions about it.
Many of us believe that it gets glued to our gut lining after having it, leading to digestive problems. But we can say not really! According to nutritionists it does not get glued to our gut despite it being sticky and it undergoes proper digestion and will get converted into carbohydrates.
But we have to be mindful of how we have it in our diet. Since Maida has lesser fiber content and does not hold water that’s why having it regularly can lead to constipation and other digestive ailments. So including Maida intermittently is not harmful but having it regularly is unhealthy for us.
There is no sudden harm Maida does to our bodies but it poses a threat to us in the long run. Due to its lesser fiber content, it is very low in nutritional value and does not add any nutrients to our body, it has a high glycemic index (an estimate of food causes our sugar levels to get spiked) which might lead to a risk of diabetes and the major problem with it is its considerable amount of gluten content.
Basically, gluten is a protein naturally found in some grains such as wheat, barley, and rye and triticale(a hybrid of wheat and rye) which can lead to autoimmune disorders such as celiac disease, non-celiac gluten sensitivity, an autoimmune disorder called Gluten ataxia and wheat allergies to some of individuals. Therefore All-Purpose Flour –Maida is harmful to our gut health, and can lead to diabetes as it can lead to an immediate insulin hike. It has a high glycemic index (therefore releases sugar into the blood & spikes blood sugar levels), leading to increased inflammation and might cause type-2 diabetes. Another health issue it can cause is problems related to the heart as Maida causes bad cholesterol (LDL-Low Density Lipoprotein) to rise, which furthermore can cause stroke.
Thus we can say that although Maida does not get glued to our gut exactly we should opt for grains high in fiber such as whole wheat and millets such as bajra and jowar, eat fruits, and practice yoga and meditation for healthy body and mind.
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Pic Source: Shutterstock
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