The National Loaf was a fortified wholemeal bread, made from wholemeal flour with added

calcium Calcium is a chemical element; it has symbol Ca and atomic number 20. As an alkaline earth metal, calcium is a reactive metal that forms a dark oxide-nitride layer when exposed to air. Its physical and chemical properties are most similar to it ...

and

vitamins Vitamins are organic molecules (or a set of closely related molecules called vitamers) that are essential to an organism in small quantities for proper metabolic function. Essential nutrients cannot be synthesized in the organism in suff ...

, introduced in Britain during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

by the Federation of Bakers (FOB), specifically Dr Roland Gordon Booth. Introduced in 1942, the loaf was made from wholemeal flour, known to be more nutritious, and fortified to prevent nutritional deficiencies like

rickets Rickets, scientific nomenclature: rachitis (from Greek , meaning 'in or of the spine'), is a condition that results in weak or soft bones in children and may have either dietary deficiency or genetic causes. Symptoms include bowed legs, stun ...

. There was limited shipping space for flour imports (and limited domestic wheat), so more efficient use of limited resources was a major consideration. The loaf was abolished in October 1956.
- Working with the government, the FOB published four

recipe A recipe is a set of instructions that describes how to prepare or make something, especially a dish (food), dish of prepared food. A sub-recipe or subrecipe is a recipe for an ingredient that will be called for in the instructions for the main r ...

s for wholemeal bread, which became the only recipes that could legally be used to make bread in the U.K. The National Loaf was criticized as grey, mushy and unappetising; only one person in seven preferred it to

white bread White bread typically refers to breads made from wheat flour from which the bran and the germ layers have been removed from the whole wheatberry as part of the flour grinding or milling process, producing a light-colored flour. Nutrition Wh ...

, which became unavailable. The government insisted on it because it saved space in shipping food to Britain
- Angus Calder, ''The people's war: Britain 1939-45'' (1969) pp 276-77 and allowed better utilization of existing stocks of wheat.

Eleanor Roosevelt Anna Eleanor Roosevelt ( ; October 11, 1884November 7, 1962) was an American political figure, diplomat, and activist. She was the longest-serving First Lady of the United States, first lady of the United States, during her husband Franklin D ...

, the American First Lady, visiting Buckingham Palace in 1942, noted that "We were served on gold and silver plates, but our bread was the same kind of war bread every other family had to eat." When the National Loaf was abolished in 1956, laws were passed that required fortification of all non-wholemeal breads with calcium,

iron Iron is a chemical element; it has symbol Fe () and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 of the periodic table. It is, by mass, the most common element on Earth, forming much of Earth's o ...

, Vitamin B1 (

thiamin Thiamine, also known as thiamin and vitamin B1, is a vitamin – an essential micronutrient for humans and animals. It is found in food and commercially synthesized to be a dietary supplement or medication. Phosphorylated forms of thiam ...

) and

nicotinic acid Nicotinic acid, or niacin, is an organic compound and a vitamer of vitamin B3, an essential human nutrient. It is produced by plants and animals from the amino acid tryptophan. Nicotinic acid is also a prescription medication. Amounts f ...

, aiming to prevent an increase in malnutrition.

See also

References

Further reading