Nutritional contribution of flour
Nourishing the nation
Flour is valuable, versatile and nutritious. Packed with vitamins and minerals it is probably one of the most important food elements in the world and it forms an essential part of our daily diet, from breakfast to a sandwich lunch or afternoon tea, through to our evening meal.
The chart below, with data from McCance and Widdowson shows the enormous contribution flour makes to our vitamin and mineral intake.
Contribution to the diet | Content per 100g (source McCanse and Widdowson, composition of food, 7th edition) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| All Wheat Flour | Wholemeal Flour | White Bread Flour | White Plain Flour | Brown Flour |
Energy | 21% | 327 kcal | 353 kcal | 352 kcal | 339 kcal |
Protein | 21% | 11.6g | 11.3g | 9.1g | 12.2g |
Fat | 6% | 2.0g | 1.2g | 1.4g | 2.0g |
Fibre (AOAC) | 37% | 10.0g | 3.3g | 4.0g | 7.7g |
Calcium | 35% | 32mg | 134mg | 96mg | 120mg |
Iron | 31% | 2.5mg | 1.9mg | 1.9mg | 2.4mg |
Zinc | 21% | 1.9mg | 0.8mg | 0.7mg | 2.2mg |
Magnesium | 23% | 83mg | 26mg | 23mg | 72mg |
Copper | 27% | 0.37mg | 0.15mg | 0.15mg | 0.32mg |
Potassium | 12% | 281mg | 128mg | 114mg | 256mg |
Manganese | 49% | 2.0mg | 0.7mg | 0.7mg | 2.3mg |
Thiamin | 31% | 0.36mg | 0.30mg | 0.28mg | 0.39mg |
Riboflavin | 8% | 0.10mg | 0.03mg | 0.05mg | 0.10mg |
Pyroxidine | 8% |
|
|
|
|
Folate | 21% | 27mcg | 16mcg | 22mcg | 44mcg |
Bread and Flour Regulations
The Bread and Flour Regulations (1998) lay down labelling and compositional standards for bread and flour; they specify that four vitamins and minerals: calcium, iron, thiamine (Vitamin B1) and niacin (Vitamin B3) must be added to all white and brown flour.
These additions to non-wholemeal flour have a significant effect on nutritional intake. Wheat flour (including the flour in bread and baked products) accounts for 35% of the nation's calcium intake, 31% of the iron intake and 31% of the thiamine intake (see table above for more details).
Wholemeal flour is exempt as the wheat bran and wheat germ from the grain included in the final flour are natural sources of vitamins and minerals.
For more information on fortification and the Bread and Flour Regulations please see here.