Tea or coffee toasts are common for many families in the morning. The question may arise, is bread from the toaster harmful and what is its use?
At its core, toast is a toasted slice of regular bread. During frying, moisture evaporates from it, it becomes drier and lighter, but its size does not change. In the process of preparation, the top layer of slices is dried most of all, and a delicious crust forms on its surface.
How the toaster works: what happens to bread?
The technology of the electric toaster is very simple: drying takes place due to the influence of infrared radiation from heated spirals located inside the case. After cooking, the toast is easily removed and can be eaten right away.
Frying occurs simultaneously on both sides in a short time. No oil or other additional products are used. The principle of operation of the device is similar to electric oven. Some models of toasters allow not only to cook toasted bread, but also to warm buns and defrost bread.
Note: the toaster was invented at the end XIX century.
Harmful substances in toasts
How safe is it to use a toaster, is it harmful or beneficial? The features of such heat treatment of bread products include the formation of acrylamides on the surface. These compounds have a stimulating effect on the body. When exposed to cells, they begin to function more intensively, and this increases the risk of developing cancer processes.
Is bread from the toaster harmful due to these compounds? Acrylamides are formed at a temperature of 180 degrees and above. In this case, a reaction occurs between the carbohydrates, amino acids and glucose that make up the bread slices.
You can use toasts with honey or jam.
But acrylamides pose a threat only when they enter the body in significant quantities, which cannot happen with toaster processing. So that the toasts do not pose a threat, they must not be allowed to overcook.
There is a common misconception that toasters cause radiation to products. Recent studies in this area have recognized this myth as unfounded.
The real harm to the human body is only the blackened areas of toast, and then, if there is a significant amount of them. Such fragments do contain carcinogens.
The benefits of toast and their calorie content
Toaster bread, like regular bread, contains many useful substances and has the following content:
- cellulose;
- trace elements;
- vitamins (especially a lot of their group B), etc.
In addition, dried slices have additional advantages: they are more easily perceived by the digestive system and less irritating to the stomach. This fact allows you to eat bread from a toaster for gastritis.
Toasters have a simple device
Fresh bread can cause fermentation in the stomach, lead to bloating and cause discomfort. This is due to the presence of yeast in the composition.
Toaster bread is easier to digest, while the body spends more calories. Especially important is light roasting. The most useful are those bread rolls that are not very fried and do not have charred areas.
Advice! Lightly baked bread is the best option for toast bread.
The most useful is whole grain bread, dried in a toaster. But you can also process any kind of bread products:
- wheat;
- black etc.d.
White bread is inferior in usefulness to whole grain and coarse grades. This product contains less trace elements and vitamins. Toasts from it are more high-calorie, and fiber intake is low. In addition, they have a rather high glycemic index, which must be taken into account by patients with diabetes mellitus, since the level of glucose in the blood rises.
Crispbread cooked in an electric toaster has almost the same calorie content as fresh bread before processing. Since toasts are prepared without the use of butter, their caloric content is lower than that of fried croutons. So, in a portion slice of bread contains 70 kcal, and in toaster - only five tenths less.
Toaster
Even the use of slightly dried toast should be in moderation.
| Adults / Children | Age | Norms of use per day |
| Children | Up to 18 months | Not recommended due to slow digestibility. |
| From 18 months to 3 years | Up to 60 g | |
| From 3 years | Depending on age, the norm increases to 200 grams by adulthood | |
| Adults | — | Up to 200 g |
Toasts that are cooked in a pan are called croutons. This method of preparation involves the use of vegetable oil, which is absorbed in significant quantities in the bread itself.
Toasts should not be too fried
The cooking temperature in the pan can reach 130-140 degrees, which leads to a change in the oil itself, negatively affecting the structure of polyunsaturated acids in its composition. The occurrence of polyunsaturated acids in sunflower oil is about 65%, in corn - a little less, and in olive - only 10%.
Advice! If the preparation of toasts without a toaster raises the question of which oil should be used, it is better to give the advantage to olive.
Sweet toast with berries and icing sugar
Whether to use a toaster and to what extent, everyone decides for himself, based on personal preferences, rhythm of life and state of health. There are a lot of recipes for cooking using toaster bread. Among them, a variety of sandwiches, a combination with tomatoes, herbs, cheese or honey. Properly cooked bread in a toaster, consumed in moderation, is not harmful. It saturates the body with useful substances and raises the mood with its aroma and rich taste.
