Why No White Flour for Babies?

I think the theory is that the wheat that we have available now has been highly engineered to make it more glutenous and, therefore, more appealing for baking, etc. It is not the same wheat flour that our parents (at least mine) and grandparents grew up with. Unfortunately, our digestive systems have not evolved enough to handle this new type of wheat. There are a number of conditions, not necessarily childhood conditions, that are believed to be -- or known to be -- associated with wheat/gluten consumption like celiac disease, crohn's disease, hashimoto's disease. And then there are a number of parents whose children who have ADD, ADHD, autism, asthma and allergies who swear that their children's health improved after they removed the gluten (and other things like artificial colors, etc) from their children's diet.

Now, there's a distinction between food allergies and food intollerances. Some food allergies do take time to build up but they usually end up being an immediate reaction type of thing like what you see with a nut or shellfish allergy. With food intollerance issues, this is a little bit more commonplace and they are a little bit more subtle in how the sypmtoms end up manifesting. Tell-tell signs that a food intollerance are an issue include the following: Red checks not long after eating the offending ingredient; Diarrhea or constipation issues; Excessive gas; Kind of out of behaviour; Bits and piece of the offending food in the person's poop that was not able to be digested. Food intollerance issues come and go throughout a person's lifetime and it just basically means that your body has a hardtime breaking down the food and using it as energy. For some, excessive exposure to these kind of foods can be very destructive to their digestive track and can be leaked into their system and end up being perceived by their body as an antigen that needs to be attacked and destroyed.

I know this all sound very convoluted and, frankly, it wasn't more than a year ago that I thought this was all a lot of rubbish but my son has been gluten free for almost a year now and it has really helped him with a number of developmental delays that we were experiencing with him. There have been a couple of times that we have allowed him to have something with wheat in it during the last 11 months and had lived to regret it. If you wish to learn more about this issue, there's a very good book called Gut Solutions that is available at Whole Foods and probably at Barnes & Noble and Borders as well.

I hope this answered all of your questions. Good luck.

Hi L., there is nothing wrong with white flour, or wheat flour as far as that goes, the ggerber puffs and teething biscuits are just fine. I would not follow in anyone's foot steps, just to follow, and not really know why they are or why they are not giving something to their child. If those items were bad, your peditrician would have told you to avoid them, never go by what some one else says or doing unti you have done the reseach yourself. Being a SAHM is the best ( my opinion ) you don't miss anything like first step first step, all the first's just live one day at a time, enjoy your kids, discipline, teach and reward, them as well, and enjoy and take care of your home and you have masterd being a SAHM. J. L.

Hi L.,

I think your friend excludes white (I'm assuming bleached all-purpose) flour because it is highly processed, glutenous, starchy (main source of bad carbs), and addictive. A good alternative to white flour is whole wheat flour or buckwheat flour - it is highly nutritious and gluten-free (which are what I use). Cutting flour out completely could keep someone from getting essential nutrients (if they are not getting it elsewhere). Good carbs are okay and needed in a healthy everyday diet.

As for sugar, virtually everything has natural sugars in it like fruits and veggies - I hope she is not cutting these out. Other sugars in candies, sweets and soda's are not healthy so I can understand her taking these out (I don't eat these myself). I don't use aspartame because there aren't enough studies on it. I would suggest using Trulia - a new natural sugar, or something like organic or raw cane sugar (again, which is what I use instead of regular granulated sugar).

You know whats best for your baby girl so read up on these things yourself as well as how to provide a healthy, balanced diet. Moderation is key, in addition to exercise. Good luck!

Hi Ann,

I understand that you want the best for your children. I have found that the closer you are to the source in processing, filtering etc the better off the products are. Our bodies do need some of the "bad" stuff but need to find it as natural as possible.

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It is likely that she is trying to cut out white flour form her diet as well. There are recent studies out that indicate white flour is more likely to cause diabetes than sugar... Like everything else, be moderate...
Good luck
R.