Being crusty not as bad as previously believed

Kusty the Clown (c) Fox Media

Most of us probably have variously weird things our parents told us to get us to eat stuff we weren’t too keen on. For some reason, these were always things that didn’t seem all that appealing. Heck, we even had Popeye and his freakish forearms, which were magically matched by his biceps after an emergency infusion of iron-rich spinach. [Note: whoever came up with the branding for that was a frigging genius.]

My folks, for instance, insisted that eating bread crust would make our hair curly. My sisters, neither of whom were big crust consumers, both had long, curly locks. I, on the other hand, who would usually scavenge said crusts, had dead straight hair, other than one hell of a cowlick. At this point, they both still have their hair. I, on the other hand… oh, shut up. (Thanks to the, er, miracles of Facebook, I have recently been reminded of some of the less-awesome ways I looked with long hair. I’m going back to my rose-tinted nostalgia hut now, thank you very much.)

However, it looks like there is some honest-to-dog good nutrition to be had in that bread crust, in the world of anti-oxidants.

It turns out that the same process that makes bread crust that spiffy darker brown is also causing the yeast and flour to transmute into Pronyl-Lysine, an anti-oxidant that features the amino acid Lysine (which is no slouch when it comes to being good for you, either). Researchers found that it was up to eight times more prevalent in the crust than in the body of the bread, and that, in general, darker breads had generally higher levels of pronyl-Lysine than do their lighter brethren. One more reason to reach for the complicated, multi-grain loaf instead of the white Wonder-stuff.

Bread is also one of the primary sources of fiber for most folks (in addition to fruit and vegetables), which is no bad thing. Those folks who are being carb-conscious should definitely make sure to get their veggie fix, for both the fiber and the anti-oxidants, not to mention the vitamins and minerals that they provide anyway.

So, while bread crust won’t necessarily do anything specifically to Ye Olde Follicular Factoryes, eating your bread crusts should at least mean you’ll be able to keep growing it for a while. Whether or not growing it in unusual places is one of your distinguishing features is up to you.

[Both bread crust links come courtesy of Danielle Corsetto, who writes Girls With Slingshots]

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