Health, Spirituality and Medical Ethics - Vol.4, No.4, Dec 2017 54 Appropriate Patterns of Bread Preparation and Consumption According To Teachings of the Quran, Ahadith, and Persian Medicine Received 23 Oct 2016; Accepted 04 Mar 2017 Atieh Sadat Danesh 1 , Hossein Moradi 1 , Fatemeh Nojavan 1* 1 Department of Persian Medicine, School of Medicine, Qom University of Medical Sciences, Qom, Iran. * Correspondence: Should be addressed to Dr. Fatemeh Nojavan. Email: Mapfn2001@yahoo.com Introduction he Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) says: Your best food is bread (1). All around the world, bread is considered a main food, and also in Iran, it is one of the main sources of daily food pattern of the community (2). Bread satisfies most energy and protein- related needs of the body such that approximately 32% of the received energy and 36% of the consumed protein in urban households as well as around 38% of the received energy and 45% of the consumed protein in rural households are satisfied by bread. Compared to meat or milk, bread is a more compact source of energy. In other words, 247 kcal energy is produced per 100 g bread, while to provide this amount of energy, 190 g (approximately two times) meat and 370 ml milk (around 4 times) should be consumed (3). Across the world, different cereals are used to prepare food, but wheat is mainly used for this purpose. To prepare bread, wheat undergoes three steps: Pulverization, impasting, and baking. The ingredients of bread, including flour, water, salt, and yeast as well as its volume and size, appearance, and preparation method all affect its quality. Certain additives such as oil, milk, and different types of sweets significantly affect bread’s health and quality. Nowadays, for greater durability, customer- friendliness, and other economic reasons, certain changes are made to the bread preparation process, some of which affect the health of bread consumers and are predisposing to serious illnesses (4). Separating bran from wheat completely (5) and whitening flour using white alum in some factories (6), and using T Abstract Background and Objectives: Historically, bread has been the most important source of human nutrition. The pattern of bread consumption is not desirable in Iran and approximately 16% of bread produced in this country is wasted. The most important cause of this waste rate is low quality of the produced bread and inadequate public attention paid to Islam recommendation on bread sanctity. The modification of bread consumption and the culture of bread consumption are one of the necessities of the community. Islam whose teachings include all aspects of human life assigns a special status to bread. In addition, in Persian medicine that was developed by Islamic teachings special attention is paid to bread. Methods: To conduct this research review, discussions about bread in Quran, Ahadith, and Persian medicine textbooks were studied. Besides that, the findings of most recent scientific sources and reliable articles were investigated. Results: According to Islamic and Persian medicine references, bread is divided into different types according to type of cereals and some legumes, amount of bran, type of dough, percentage of fermentation, baking method, shape and thickness of bread, and materials added to bread. A suitable bread is made from high quality wheat, its bran is not separated in large amounts, salt and dough are used in preparing it, it is fermented in a balanced manner, and all of its parts are uniformly baked in oven. In addition to preparation method, there is a certain pattern of using bread according to Persian medicine and Ahadith. Conclusion: A bread that is prepared and used according to instructions described in Iranian Islamic medicine can satisfy a wide range of the body's nutritional needs. Keywords: Persian Medicine, Islamic, Iranian, Bread. Review Article Health, Spirituality and Medical Ethics. 2017;4(4):54-61 Please Cite This Article As: Danesh AS, Moradi H, Nojavan F. Appropriate Patterns of Bread Preparation and Consumption According To Teachings of the Quran, Ahadith, and Persian Medicine. Health Spiritual Med Ethics. 2017;4(4):54-61.