Bagels: What’s really in them?

This is my second in an occasional series of posts where I will examine the ingredients in one of the foods I eat on a regular basis. In my first post on coffee creamer, I mentioned that I do pretty well with staying away from too many processed or high-fat foods.

But still, as I examine the ingredients in the foods I eat, I am discovering that I can do better. And that's what living a healthy life is all about. Always doing better.

This time, I'll take on bagels. I specifically eat Thomas' Whole Wheat Bagels. I really like the texture and taste, but what about the ingredients? What am I really eating?

I searched Thomas' Web site, and I found the product listings for all of their varieties of bagels and other foods, including the whole wheat bagels. However, they did not have their ingredients, nor their nutrition information, listed. To find that, I have to look at a package of bagels.

First, let's look at the nutrition facts. One bagel has 240 calories, 2 grams of total fat, of which 0.5g is saturated, 400 mg sodium, 49 grams of carbs, of which 7 grams is dietary fiber, and 10 grams of protein.

Next, the ingredients, in the order in which they are listed.

Whole wheat flour. From Wikipedia: a powdery substance derived by grinding or mashing the wheat's whole grain. It is used in baking, but typically added to other "white" flours to give nutrition (especially fiber and protein), texture, and body to the finished product. The word "whole" refers to the fact that all of the grain (bran, germ, and endosperm) is used and nothing is lost in the process of making the flour.

Water. Good ol' H20. I hope I don't need to define this one.

Flaked wheat. The only place I could find definitions of flaked wheat specifically were in reference to brewing beer. From How to Brew, unmalted wheat is a common ingredient in wheat beers. It adds starch haze and high levels of protein.

Wikipedia does have an entry on wheat, which is defined as a staple food used to make flour for leavened, flat and steamed breads; cookies, cakes, pasta, noodles and couscous; and for fermentation to make beer, alcohol, vodka or biofuel.

Sugar. An ingredient we're all familiar with. Here's what Wikipedia says: Sugar is a class of edible crystalline substances including sucrose, lactose, and fructose. Common table sugar (sucrose) is made from sugar beets or sugar cane.

Yeast. Most of us are familiar with yeast, and we at least know that it is used to make bread rise. Thus, it makes sense that it would be in bagels. But what is yeast? Wikipedia defines it as a growth form of eukaryotic microorganisms classified in the kingdom Fungi ... The yeast species Saccharomyces cerevisiae has been used in baking and fermenting alcoholic beverages for thousands of years.

Wheat gluten. From Wikipedia: Wheat gluten is a made from the gluten of wheat by washing wheat flour dough with water until all the starch dissolves, leaving insoluble gluten as a gummy mass, which is subject to further processing.

Wheat bran. From Wikipedia: Bran is the hard outer layer of grain and consists of combined aleurone and pericarp. Along with germ, it is an integral part of whole grains, and is often produced as a by-product of milling in the production of refined grains.

Salt. We all learned about this one in baby chemistry class -- sodium chloride -- and most of us have it in the kitchen. I still found the Wikipedia definition interesting: Salt is a dietary mineral essential for animal life. Salt flavor is one of the basic tastes, and salt is the most popular food seasoning and a key preservative. Salt is also the only rock eaten by humans.

The only rock eaten by humans? Hmmm ... I was not aware of that.

Cornmeal. From Wikipedia: flour ground from dried corn. Steel ground yellow cornmeal has the husk and germ of the maize kernel almost completely removed. Stone ground cornmeal retains some of the hull and germ, lending a little more flavor and nutrition to recipes.

Mono- and diglycerides. These came up on the list of ingredients in my previous analysis of Coffee-mate creamer.

To review the definitions, a monoglyceride consists of one fatty acid chain covalently bonded to a glycerol molecule through an ester linkage. A diglyceride consists of two fatty acid chains covalently bonded to a glycerol molecule through ester linkages. Both are common food additives used to blend together certain ingredients, such as oil and water. They can come from either animal or vegetable, derived primarily from soybean and canola oil. They may also be synthetically produced.

So as I mentioned in the coffee creamer post, I have no idea whether I am eating a real or synthetic product in these bagels, nor where these mono- and diglycerides come from.

Preservatives (Calcium propionate, sorbic acid). First, here’s how Wikipedia defines preservative: a natural or synthetic chemical that is added to products such as foods, pharmaceuticals, paints, biological samples, wood, etc. to prevent decomposition by microbial growth or by undesirable chemical changes.

The ingredient label on the bagels lists two preservatives specifically. The first, calcium propionate is defined as the calcium salt of propionic acid. Okay, so what’s propionic acid? It is a naturally-occurring carboxylic acid, which in its pure state is a colorless, corrosive liquid with a pungent odor.

Um … corrosive liquid with a pungent odor? I’m not sure if I feel comfortable putting such a thing in my body.

The other preservative listed, sorbic acid, is a natural organic compound used as a food preservative. Sorbic acid and its mineral salts are antimicrobial agents often used as preservatives in food and drinks to prevent the growth of mold, yeast and fungi.

Guar gum. Guar gum, also called guaran, is primarily the ground endosperm of guar beans. The guar bean is an annual legume grown mostly in India.

DATEM. I added all caps to this one because it is actually an acronym, for Di-Acetyl Tartaric Ester of Monoglyceride. It is an emulsifier primarily used in baking to strengthen the dough by building a strong gluten network.

Citric acid. If you eat citrus fruits, such as oranges, you’re familiar with citric acid. It is defined as a weak organic acid. It is a natural preservative and is also used to add an acidic, or sour, taste to foods and soft drinks.

Maltodextrin. From Wikipedia: a polysaccharide used as a food additive. Maltodextrin is easily digestible, being absorbed as rapidly as glucose. Maltodextrin can be derived from any starch, usually rice, corn or potato in the U.S.

If you type this term into Wikipedia, you are redirected to an entry for dextrin, which is way too full of long chemical names. This disturbs me a little. I shouldn’t have to work that hard to understand what I’m eating.

Algin. Wikipedia redirects you to the entry for alginic acid, which is a viscous gum that is abundant in the cell walls of brown algae.

What? I’m eating algae!?! Eeeewww!

Soy lecithin. Wikipedia defines lecithin as any of a group of yellow-brownish fatty substances occurring in animal and plant tissues, and in egg yolk. Lecithin is an integral part of cell membranes, and can be totally metabolized. There are studies that show soy-derived lecithin has significant effects on lowering cholesterol and triglyceride, while increasing HDL ("good cholesterol") levels in the blood.

Okay, so this ingredient doesn’t sound quite as bad as some of the others.

Soy flour (trivial amount). Wikipedia takes you to the main entry on soy. If you scroll down, you see this: Soy flour refers to defatted soybeans where special care was taken during desolventizing (not toasted) in order to minimize denaturation of the protein.

I found that a little confusing, so I went to Soy Foods. It says soy flour is made from roasted soybeans that have been ground into a fine powder. Rich in high-quality protein and other nutrients, soy flour also adds a pleasant texture and flavor to a variety of products.

So, what's my verdict after examining all of these ingredients? Some of them aren't so bad, but there are some other strange things in these bagels that make me think twice about eating too many of them. My habit has been to eat half a wheat bagel covered with natural peanut butter (which has one ingredient: peanuts) for breakfast. Perhaps I'll try instead oats. That is, plain oats from the big canister, not the packaged, flavored stuff. The ingredients in oats? Whole grain rolled oats. Simple and pure.

Do you eat bagels? Check the ingredient list and see if any of these show up in the brand you eat. What do you think, now that you know what some of them are?