And now a nugget of nutrition news from Mom: Besides being wasteful, there's another really good reason to not trim the crusts off of your kids' bread — according to a news item over on Ben Sullivan's Science Blog, German researchers have discovered that the crust is a rich source of antioxidants and may provide a much stronger health benefit than the rest of the bread.

A recent study has identified an antioxidant called pronyl-lysine that's 8 times more abundant in the bread's crust. Interestly, this compound is not present in the original flour. It is created during the complex chemical reaction of the protein-bound amino acid L-lysine and starch as well as reducing sugars in the presence of heat — or something we amateurs call "baking." What's more, darker breads not only tend to have more dietary fiber but also higher amounts of this cancer-fighting antioxidant goodness too!

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