# Is the crust really the healthiest part of bread? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 29, 2007, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-crust-really-the-healthiest-part-of-bread/390010 "2007-01-29T21:04:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2007, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-crust-really-the-healthiest-part-of-bread/390010/21 "2007-01-30T15:04:51Z")
Nitpick: Food that has health benefits is healthful, not healthy. /nitpick ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2007, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-crust-really-the-healthiest-part-of-bread/390010/22 "2007-01-30T15:08:07Z")
Really? Why? ---
**Author:** ![Staggerlee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/staggerlee/32/3134_2.png) [@Staggerlee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Staggerlee)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2007, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-crust-really-the-healthiest-part-of-bread/390010/23 "2007-01-30T15:26:17Z")
[QUOTE=gigi] Nitpick: Food that has health benefits is healthful, not healthy. /nitpick [/QUOTE] Thank you. What a helpy chap. ---
**Author:** ![Quiddity\_Glomfuster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/c4cdca/32.png) [@Quiddity\_Glomfuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quiddity_Glomfuster)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2007, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-crust-really-the-healthiest-part-of-bread/390010/24 "2007-01-30T16:03:37Z")
[QUOTE=rackensack] The biggest differences between the crusts and the rest of the bread are moisture content and the presence of various compounds known as Maillard molecules [/QUOTE] (rest of really nifty info snipped). I love this place! Thanks 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![stuyguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@stuyguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stuyguy)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2007, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-crust-really-the-healthiest-part-of-bread/390010/25 "2007-01-30T16:46:17Z")
[QUOTE=CalMeacham] … Charlemagne picked up the rind with his knife and made the Abbott eat it. It’s _Good_ to be the Emperor. I copied out that section in neat calligraphic letters, framed it, and gave it to my mother. [/QUOTE] You threatened to make your mother eat a knife? You are a dreadful son! [smilie here] ---
**Author:** ![Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac8455/32.png) [@Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bippy_the_Beardless)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2007, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-crust-really-the-healthiest-part-of-bread/390010/26 "2007-01-30T16:46:29Z")
[QUOTE=Mangetout] Really? Why? [/QUOTE] It’s a case of changing meanings to the wordy healthy. But really healthy only means well/not sick/in good health. Therefore healthy bread is bread which isn;t feeling under the weather. Healthful is the right (though I beleive becoming obsolete) word for something that provides health to others. Would the extra heat of cooking the crust also destroy more vitamins, or is this moot because any heat sensitive vitamins in any part of the bread would be destroyed by baking. Certain french breads have healthy crusts, as your jaws get a serious workout when eating them, to the point of aching afterwards. ---
**Author:** ![JeffB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeffb/32/188_2.png) [@JeffB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JeffB)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2007, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-crust-really-the-healthiest-part-of-bread/390010/27 "2007-01-30T16:59:34Z")
There is a study that found higher levels of the antioxidant pronyl-lysine in crust than in the rest of the bread. [This blurb](http://psufoodscience.typepad.com/psu_food_science/2005/08/bread_crust_ric.html) has a link to the original journal article. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2007, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-crust-really-the-healthiest-part-of-bread/390010/28 "2007-01-30T18:04:31Z")
Let’s face it: the crust of what we on Trantor call flannel bread is yucky; the crust on good French bread is ymmy and surely the best part. As for nutritional balue, there ought to be no significant difference. Incidentally, when I eat an apple, especially a nice crunchy granny smith, I eat everything but the stem. The seeds tase a bit like almonds. (I know that is just cyanide, but too little to do any harm.) ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2007, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-crust-really-the-healthiest-part-of-bread/390010/29 "2007-01-30T18:17:39Z")
[QUOTE=Staggerlee] Thank you. What a helpy chap. [/QUOTE] Thanks, but I’m one of them girlful types. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2007, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-crust-really-the-healthiest-part-of-bread/390010/30 "2007-01-30T23:33:59Z")
[QUOTE=Liberal] I love the crust. It’s my favorite part. My wife always lets me have the heels from a loaf of bread. [/QUOTE] Dammit, stop saying things I agree with! 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Celyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9dc877/32.png) [@Celyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Celyn)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2007, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-crust-really-the-healthiest-part-of-bread/390010/31 "2007-01-31T01:12:42Z")
Hah! To the lot of you - in fact the reason one is told to eat the crusts is because they make your hair curl. Yes, my mother might be a bit mad. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Bin-Gay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e95f7d/32.png) [@Bin-Gay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bin-Gay)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2007, 5:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-crust-really-the-healthiest-part-of-bread/390010/32 "2007-01-31T05:45:51Z")
[QUOTE=Celyn] Hah! To the lot of you - in fact the reason one is told to eat the crusts is because they make your hair curl. Yes, my mother might be a bit mad. 🙂 [/QUOTE] My great-grandmother told me the same thing when I was a little girl! I was beginning to think I was the only one to have heard this! After about 45 years, I’m STILL waiting for the results 😃 ---
**Author:** ![BobT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e8cbc/32.png) [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2007, 6:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-crust-really-the-healthiest-part-of-bread/390010/33 "2007-01-31T06:34:24Z")
I have a theory that there is no part of any food that is edible that one person in the world won’t say “Why that’s the best part?” Chicken necks Fish heads The bottoms of asparagus stalks Apple cores ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2007, 9:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-crust-really-the-healthiest-part-of-bread/390010/34 "2007-01-31T09:24:59Z")
[QUOTE=Chronos] I’ve heard that that one is a myth, too, but that it has some grounding in fact. Vegetables are healthier if cooked with the skin still on, so I’ve heard, since that helps prevent nutrients from leeching away, but once it’s cooked, the skin is no better or worse than any other part. [/QUOTE] Potato skin has some beta-carotene which gives it its color. The rest of the potato does not have any. I can’t remember where I learned this, but I think one of Cecil’s columns. I personally don’t eat potato skins, but I eat enough carrots that I’m in no danger from dying of lack of beta-carotene. I used to scrape off the skins of carrots, but recently I’ve stopped doing so because they taste better with the skin on.[sup]1[/sup] [sup]1[/sup] Not every one will agree with this statement. ---
**Author:** ![Contrapuntal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e274bd/32.png) [@Contrapuntal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Contrapuntal)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2007, 9:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-crust-really-the-healthiest-part-of-bread/390010/35 "2007-01-31T09:30:26Z")
[QUOTE=BobT] I have a theory that there is no part of any food that is edible that one person in the world won’t say “Why that’s the best part?” Chicken necks Fish heads The bottoms of asparagus stalks Apple cores [/QUOTE] Pig intestines. Sheep stomachs. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2007, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-crust-really-the-healthiest-part-of-bread/390010/36 "2007-01-31T15:28:19Z")
[QUOTE=Hari Seldon] Incidentally, when I eat an apple, especially a nice crunchy granny smith, I eat everything but the stem. [/QUOTE] You should eat that - it’s the best bit. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2007, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-crust-really-the-healthiest-part-of-bread/390010/37 "2007-01-31T16:56:32Z")
[QUOTE=Bin-Gay] My great-grandmother told me the same thing when I was a little girl! I was beginning to think I was the only one to have heard this! [/QUOTE] Mine told my mom that if she kept making that face it would stay that way. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2007, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-crust-really-the-healthiest-part-of-bread/390010/38 "2007-01-31T18:38:41Z")
[QUOTE=Celyn] Hah! To the lot of you - in fact the reason one is told to eat the crusts is because they make your hair curl. Yes, my mother might be a bit mad. 🙂 [/QUOTE] The reason my grandmother gave is that they’d put hair on your chest. I’m still not sure why she used it on a 7 year old girl, however. ---
**Author:** ![According\_to\_Pliny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8e7dd6/32.png) [@According\_to\_Pliny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/According_to_Pliny)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2007, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-crust-really-the-healthiest-part-of-bread/390010/39 "2007-01-31T19:09:34Z")
I always prefer the crusts, expecially the ends of the loaf (I eat French, Italian and Russian Rye). They simply have more of the crunchy, toasty part. All the carmelized sugars are in the crust. And they must have more of any final topping, such as a coat of oil or an egg glaze. ---
**Author:** ![According\_to\_Pliny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8e7dd6/32.png) [@According\_to\_Pliny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/According_to_Pliny)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2007, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-crust-really-the-healthiest-part-of-bread/390010/40 "2007-01-31T19:15:20Z")
[QUOTE=BobT] I have a theory that there is no part of any food that is edible that one person in the world won’t say “Why that’s the best part?” Chicken necks Fish heads The bottoms of asparagus stalks Apple cores [/QUOTE] Chicken necks - my Gramma always put these in her famous soup Fish heads - my nextdoor Viet neghbor would buy these by the bucket and stink up the whole building The bottoms of asparagus stalks - these go in my stews. Just chop fine so you don’t have to chew them, and the flavor is like any other asparagus Apple cores - my dad always ate the cores, said he had no reason not to [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-crust-really-the-healthiest-part-of-bread/390010.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-crust-really-the-healthiest-part-of-bread/390010.md?page=3)