Removing the oil allows products made with the flour, like white bread, to be stored for longer periods of time avoiding potential rancidity.

[4] Because wheat was the most expensive grain to grow, and the process to sift it labor-intensive, white flour was generally limited to special occasions and the wealthy, until the mid-19th century.

[12][13] Bread was not a traditional food in Japan, but it came into culinary use there after the American response to post-World War II Japanese rice shortages included relief shipments of wheat.

[15][16][17] While a bran- and wheatgerm-discarding milling process can help improve white flour's shelf life, it does remove nutrients like some dietary fiber, iron, B vitamins, micronutrients[18] and essential fatty acids.

The US government has mandated since 1941 fortification of white flour-based foods with some of the nutrients lost in milling, like thiamin, riboflavin, niacin, and iron.