| Reading Between The Labels |
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| Breads |
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When choosing bread, the main nutrient to watch out for is the fibre content. Wholegrain breads can make a substantial contribution to our daily fibre intake, whereas white bread will make little or no contribution. Any breads with nuts, seeds or grains will have a higher fibre content than those without.
It's also important to compare the salt content of different breads as bread does tend to be quite high in salt. Manufacturers are working towards reducing levels of added salt, so do read the labels and choose breads that are lower in salt or sodium.
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Also, look for the type of flour used. White flour and wholemeal flour are the two main types of wheat flour used in bread-making.
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 | White flour is refined. It has an extraction rate of around 75% as the bran is removed (along with some of the nutrients). |
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| Brown flour has a higher extraction rate than white flour (about 85%). It contains more bran and this gives the flour a darker colour and a stronger flavour and colour. |
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| Wholemeal flour contains all parts of the grain - this type of flour has an extraction rate of 100% which means nothing is removed during milling. |
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| The fibre-rich bran (outer layer), the endosperm (middle layer) and the germ (inner layer). The bran provides fibre, B vitamins, minerals and protein. The endosperm contains carbohydrates, proteins and small amounts of B vitamins. The germ contains minerals (magnesium, zinc, phosphorus), B vitamins and vitamin E. |
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| Choose breads with extra fibre in the form of nuts, seeds, and other wholegrains. |
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| When the ingredients list says “wheat flour”, this means white flour, so it’s important to be aware of this. Wholemeal flour will be listed as wholemeal flour. |
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| Additives found in bread |
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Some breads may contain a preservative called Calcium Propionate, a mould inhibitor. Calcium propionate has been linked with causing migraines. Acetic acid is another common bread preservative, of which no adverse effects are known.
You will also see emulsifiers listed in the ingredients list of bread. Emulsifiers help to give a consistent and high quality bread. They stabilise the dough so that it can be processed in the bakery and reduce the rate at which bread goes stale. There are no known adverse effects of emulsifiers on health.
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| Per slice | Calories | Carbs (g) | Sugar (g) | Fibre (g) | Salt (g) | | Typical White Sliced Bread | 100 | 21 | 1.1 | 0.5 | 0.4 | | Brennan’s Half & Half | 78 | 15.7 | 0.1 | 1.5 | 0.4 | Brennan’s Crunchy Wholemeal
with pumpkin & poppy seed | 79 | 12.8 | 0.9 | 2.6 | 0.3 | McCambridge Stoneground
Wholewheat | 86 | 17 | 1.0 | 2.2 | 0.5 | | LifeFibre High Fibre & Seed | 120 | 11.9 | 0.7 | 5.0 | 0.4 |
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| Let's take a look at the breads in more detail |
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| White bread |
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| The white bread is the poorest in terms of fibre content with only 0.5 g per slice, compared to 5g in a slice of the highest fibre bread (multiseed). |
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| Half & half bread |
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| The half and half has 1.5g fibre, which is 1g more than the white bread, so it’s a good way to get a bit more fibre into the kids if they are reluctant to eat bread with “bits” in, since it looks like white bread and doesn’t have any bits. However, 1.5g fibre is still low in comparison to the seeded and wholewheat breads. |
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| Wholemeal with pumpkin & poppy seed |
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| This bread has a fairly substantial 2.6g fibre per slice, mainly due to the presence of the seeds, wholemeal flour, kibbled wheat, cracked wheat and millet. It’s also one of the lowest calorie breads, with 79 calories per slice, so this would be a good option for someone watching their weight – the presence of wholegrains reduces the GI value of the bread, and the high fibre content will help you to feel fuller for longer. It also has the lowest salt content, with 0.3g per slice. |
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| Wholewheat bread |
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| This bread is quite good in terms of fibre content, with 2.2g – certainly better than the white or half and half. Surprisingly, it’s the highest in salt, with 0.5g per slice. One thing to note about this bread is that it is the only bread that contains no additives, colourings or flavourings. |
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| Multiseed bread |
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It might be surprising to see that this bread is highest in terms of calories and fat, but this is because the seeds in the bread (linseed, sesame seed and poppy seed) are high in monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats, or “good” fats. Monounsaturated fats can help to lower levels of bad cholesterol, and raise levels of good cholesterol. Linseed is a good plant source of the essential omega-3 fatty acids.
This bread has the highest fibre content by far, with 5 grams per slice. This would make a very substantial contribution to your fibre intake, particularly if you were to make a sandwich using two slices – it would give you almost half of your daily recommended intake of 25g (for adults).
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| Which is the best bread, and why? |
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| For fibre, the LifeFibre bread is definitely the best. However, for an overall family bread, I would choose the Brennan’s crunchy wholemeal with pumpkin and poppy seed as the slices are substantial enough for sandwiches, and the low calorie and fat content makes it suitable for anyone watching their weight or wishing to lose weight. |
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| Which is the worst bread, and why? |
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| The white bread is the worst, mainly because of its very low fibre content, but also because white flour is stripped of nutrients such as vitamin E, B vitamins and minerals like magnesium and phosphorus. All of the other breads contain some kind of wholegrains, whereas this one doesn’t. White bread like this won’t fill you up for very long either, and the high refined carbohydrate content will cause your blood sugars to sharply rise and fall, causing you to feel low in energy and hungry soon after eating. |
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| How much bread should we eat in one day? |
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It depends on their activity and energy needs. People who are very active can enjoy more, but the important thing is to make it count nutritionally - high fibre, high added nutrition (seeds, nuts). Active people tend to eat anything up to 4 slices a day.
If you are slimming, I would encourage you to stick to less - about two slices of high fibre bread as a sandwich option at lunchtime. Then eat high fibre cereal, fruit and yoghurt for breakfast and alternative carbohydrates for the evening meal - potatoes with skins, brown rice, wholewheat pasta for dinner. I would tend to say this is a good guideline for children too because you want to encourage variety and not have them lean to heavily on one carbohydrate and exclude others. They also tend to love the white bread and avoid the higher fibre ones so it's a good idea to encourage different carbohydrates at different meals.
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| Click here for a recipe for delicious homemade brown bread |
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