CAN MAN LIVE BY BREAD ALONE?

Although a diet comprised solely of flour, salt, and water might keep you alive for a little while, you would soon die of malnutrition--even if you started out in good health and physical condition.

Now, take the exact same ingredients but mix the flour, salt, and some of the water together, let it ferment for a while, and then bake it. You would then be on a bread and water diet which possibly could keep you alive indefinitely. The leavening and baking of the bread dough would unlock a lot of the nutrients and minerals within--probably enough to sustain life.

Of course, you still would not be in the prime of health, as you would not have vitamin C to withstand scurvy and to help heal wounds, vitamin A to avoid night blindness and your eyes from drying out, the same vitamins A and C to assist in fighting infections, vitamin D to prevent rickets and osteoporosis, or enough fat to maintain hair and skin and to produce adequate levels of testosterone to avoid loss of muscle mass.

HARDTACK BREAD--THE STAPLE FOOD FOR
 SOLDIERS AND SAILORS FOR CENTURIES