Why whole wheat bread might not give you as much magnesium as you think
Phytic acid added to white-wheat bread inhibits fractional apparent magnesium absorption in humans.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
Even if whole wheat bread has the same amount of magnesium as white bread, something in it called phytic acid stops your body from absorbing it well.
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Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
Even if whole wheat bread has the same amount of magnesium as white bread, something in it called phytic acid stops your body from absorbing it well.
Systematic Reviews & Meta-Analyses
Max 100Randomized Controlled Trials
Max 90Cohort Studies
Max 72Case-Control Studies
Max 58Cross-Sectional Studies
Max 44Case Reports & Case Series
Max 30Expert Opinion & Narrative Reviews
Max 555 / 90
Evidence Score
Participants are randomly assigned to treatment or control groups, minimizing bias. Considered the gold standard for testing whether an intervention causes an effect.
Publication
Authors
Bohn T, Davidsson L, Walczyk T, Hurrell RF
Related Content
Claims (7)
Phytic acid, a compound found in plant foods, binds to iron, calcium, zinc, and magnesium in the digestive tract, which decreases how much of these minerals the body can take up.
Phytic acid, a compound found in plant foods, binds to iron, zinc, calcium, and magnesium in the digestive tract, making these minerals less available for absorption by the body.
Phytic acid in wheat bread reduces how much magnesium the body absorbs, even when the bread contains the same amount of magnesium, because phytic acid binds directly to magnesium and prevents its uptake.
Consuming phytic acid with white bread reduces the amount of magnesium the body absorbs, with higher amounts of phytic acid leading to greater reductions in absorption.
Adding a specific amount of phytic acid to white-wheat bread lowers how much magnesium the body can absorb from the bread, which may reduce the availability of this mineral in diets that rely heavily on cereal products.