This old post from May 2014 is getting a lot of attention. Someone may have linked it in Facebook or Reddit or somewhere. I don’t know. But in the event it’s helpful, I’m reposting. You can visit the original post for some edifying comments: 12 Extra Slices Of Bread Daily Helped Men Lose Up To 25 Pounds In 8 Weeks

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In an earlier post I said that excess carbohydrate does not turn to body fat. Here’s a study that gave overweight men an extra 12 slices of bread a day – and they all lost weight:

Effects Of A High Fiber Bread Diet On Weight Loss In College-Age Males, American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 1979

16 overweight college-age men were divided into 2 groups:

• Group 1 ate 12 slices of white bread daily (1 gram fiber).
• Group 2 ate 12 slices of fiber-enriched bread daily (25.5 grams fiber).

Both groups lost weight; the fiber group lost more.

The men were fed all meals in a cafeteria. They received trays containing 3200 calories/day which included 4 slices of bread per meal. They ate the same food (type, not quantity) at each meal. “No drastic changes were made in types of food” prior to and during the study.

Eating the bread caused the men to voluntarily limit the amount of other food they were eating:

• Group 1 reduced calories from 3200 to 2350.
• Group 2 reduced calories from 3200 to 1975.

After 8 weeks:

• Group 1: Weight loss average of 6.26 kg (13.8 lb)
• Group 2: Weight loss average of 8.77 kg (19.3 lb)

• Group 1: Cholesterol dropped from 231 to 155 mg/dl
• Group 2: Cholesterol dropped from 224 to 172 mg/dl

There were no detrimental effects of all that bread on the men’s blood glucose.

• Group 1: Fasting glucose, no change (87.1 before, 86.6 after)
• Group 2: Fasting glucose, no change (85.7 before, 85.3 after)

The authors stated that “the feeling of fullness created by eating bread and intensified with bread containing cellulose helps the dieter control food intake.”

A couple of undeniable facts from this study:

• Choosing high-fiber bread over white bread leads to more weight loss.
• Eating bread does not prevent weight loss, and may assist weight loss.

An aside… men who ate the high-fiber bread visited the bathroom more, and had heavier stools:

“For the [high-fiber] bread group, bowel movements averaged 1.7 per day with a mean stool weight of 243 g [half a pound] and for the regular bread group 1.4 movements per day with a mean stool weight of 118 g [quarter of a pound].”

There are a number of physicians and diet-book authors who claim that eating a lot of carbohydrate, especially grains, and of grains, especially wheat, and of wheat, especially processed wheat (flour), will cause weight gain – ipso facto. Here we have a group of men who lost from 9 to 25 pounds in 8 weeks by adding 12 slices of bread to their regular diet.

Dr. McDougall, whose belief in the benefits of a starch-based diet is steadfast, offered this challenge in his new book, “The Starch Solution.” … “Add an extra 600 to 900 calories (divided throughout the day) of grains, legumes, or starchy vegetables to what you are already eating” (such as the foods below). Don’t add any fat or animal food to these additional starches:

4 cups of steamed rice
4 cups of boiled corn
4 mashed potatoes
4 baked sweet potatoes
3 cups of cooked beans, peas, or lentils
4 cups of boiled spaghetti noodles
12 slices of whole grain bread

His diet is a lot like the diets of traditional Okinawans who consumed 85% of their calories from carbohydrates, 70% from sweet potatoes alone, and who are known for their long life and good health into old age. It is also similar to the diets of Cubans during their Special Period, where they lost weight and lowered their rates of diabetes, heart disease, and cancer, by eating 77% of their calories as carbohydrate, primarily rice and sugar.