Crustibles?

EGirl came home from PreK the other day and asked that we cut the crusts off her sandwich. Besides being a high maintenance request, sadly for her, it's also an unhealthy request. Add it to the list of Things She Was Denied As A Child. I mentioned this in a comment to a reader and intrepid Anonymous naturally wanted to know why this was so (channeling my 4yo?).

So here's the lowdown, just in TIME for my favorite holiday. I am so excited to be able to deliver cancer-fighting stuffing substance just in time for Thanksgiving. Shield yourself from carb-snobbery with the following from the American Chemical Society:

The process of baking bread creates a new, cancer-fighting substance in the crust when it's browned. Go figure! And browner breads like pumpernickel (note, not just whole grain, altho white bread unsurprisingly has less cancer-fighting compounds) create more antioxidants in the crust. And no, for those of us who might tend in this direction, burning the crust doesn't make it healthier.