In today’s blog, I am writing about a food ingredient that is widely used worldwide: Refined Flour, or MAIDA.
We have heard from many sources that Maida is not good for us. While in the Western world, they use this for cakes, bread, buns, burgers, pizzas, and noodles, in India too, the usage is rather high. Almost all our savories will either fully or partially be made of Maida. So, we have samosas, kachoris, cakes, white bread, biscuits, chaklis etc., that are made from Maida. Also, many sweet items include Maida like the malpua, halwa, gulab jamun, gujia, jalebi and many others. So, it looks like, cuisines worldwide are influenced highly by Maida and yet we are told to avoid it. So, what could be the reason why Maida or refined flour is not good for us and is known as white poison?
What is Maida?
To understand why it is not good for us, we need first to understand, how Maida is made. It is made from wheat, and that is supposed to be healthy. However, while refining the flour something different happens, which makes it not so good for health. Wheat has wheat germ and wheat bran, and the endosperm of this is removed, when refining. This endosperm is actually what makes wheat healthy and aids in our digestion also. ( Endosperm is a tissue that surrounds and nourishes the embryo of seeds in flowering plants).
However, when we use Maida since it is missing the digestive endosperm, it uses the nutrients in our body to help the digestion, thus depleting our body of vital nutrients. This is also the reason why you find certain products have markings called enriched or fortified to indicate that they have artificially enriched the flour to put back some nutrients. This makes it slightly better, but not as good as the natural ones. This is why eatables made from Maida, can be bad fir our health.
Maida Affects Blood Sugar Levels
While people with diabetes may have refrained from eating sweets, what they do not know is that eating too many products made from Maida is equally harmful. When you eat Maida based products, it immediately releases sugar into your blood because of its high Glycemic Index (GI). This puts pressure on pancreas to regulate the same by producing more insulin. This may work in short run, however, in the long term, the pancreas may fail, and the person may end up becoming diabetic.
Hence, to prevent diabetes, or to keep your blood sugar level regulated, if you have diabetes, eating snacks made from Maida needs to be controlled. That’s not all, the high level of glucose in the blood can also affect heart, eyes, and even act as a cause in arthritis. Maida also increases the level of your bad cholesterol, which is not good for your blood pressure and heart. Consuming too much Maida can make you obese too.
Digestive Issues
Apart from what is mentioned above, about the endosperm and digestive problems, it is believed that Maida turns into a kind of glue in our intestines, making it difficult to digest. It has no fibre, and slows down the metabolism and can even make you sluggish.
Affects Bones
Why would Maida affect your bones or aid in arthritis Well, after refining, since all the nutrients are removed, Maida is acidic. Hence to balance the acidity, the body uses calcium from the bones, which in turn reduces the bone density. Also, it is this acidity that aids in inflammation, which is primary cause of arthritis.
Consuming Maida can also lead to issue like headache, stomach ache migraines, mood swings, stress, etc. However, when we look around us, it appears Maida has invaded our life from the breakfast cereals to almost every sphere. So, is it possible for us to switch from Maida and eat healthily?
Alternates
People are slowly realizing the importance of reducing the intake of Maida or refined flour, and it is now being replaced with Raggi (Millets), whole wheat flour (Atta), Bajra flour, Jowar flour, etc. If not fully, at least a mix of these flours can be used to reduce the quantity of Maida used. There are many noodles and pasta manufacturers that also use Semolina (Sooji or Rava) and avoid Maida. These are good alternates that can be used to stay healthy.
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Anil Malik
Mumbai, India
9th January 2025