Reductionism is the philosophy or tendency to reduce complex phenomena to their simplest components and to consider these as more fundamental. This may lead to disconnection from complex reality, which is exactly what has happened in food... more
Reductionism is the philosophy or tendency to reduce complex phenomena to their simplest components and to consider these as more fundamental. This may lead to disconnection from complex reality, which is exactly what has happened in food science and human nutrition. Reductionism has led to fractionate natural foods into smaller components – ingredients or nutrients. Ultra-processed products, nutraceuticals and nutritional supplements are the results of extreme reductionism applied to the matrix of foods. Today, most marketed cereal- based food produts show reductionism pushed to its extreme limits. Grains are mostly milled and ‘refined’ to make white wheat flour. Germ and bran, the most nutrient-dense and healthy fractions, are removed, especially for animal feed and ‘health food’ products. White wheat flour has lost most of its bioactive compounds. Ironically, so have commercial ‘wholegrain’ flours, breads and other ‘whole’ wheat products, in whichonly a fewof the bioactive compounds contain in real whole wheat have been added back.
