Bread has been an everyday food for centuries. In 2020, over 326.91 million Nigerians enjoyed bread. With so many people eating this staple, many want to know whether it adds any nutritional value to their diets. If bread is a go-to in your home, knowing its health benefits will help you understand how it impacts your body. This guide will dive into the bread nutrition facts of products you consume daily.
.jpg)
Is Bread Good for You?
Bread is a pantry staple in many households. Many people enjoy its versatility, as you can toast it, make delicious sandwiches or use it in some of your favorite recipes. If you regularly eat it, you may wonder — is bread healthy? Instead of answering that question with a sweeping yes, it’s essential to look at the nutritional benefits of each bread product and type on the market. Not all loaves are the same — some pack more nutritional value than others.
The bread you choose will determine the nutritional value it adds to your diet. Buy from a trusted manufacturer that uses quality ingredients. How you eat your bread will also determine how healthy it is. For example, making a sandwich with whole-grain bread and loading it with ingredients like bacon or cream cheese may hurt your health.
As with all foods, moderation is key when eating bread. Some professionals advise limiting your bread intake to six servings per day, depending on what other grains you eat and the bread you choose. When you buy bread, check for the ingredients the manufacturer uses, nutritional value and the serving suggestions. Adjust your bread intake accordingly if you are following a strict diet for medical reasons.
You can use virtually any sandwich filling or spread on your bread, English muffin or bagel, but your choices impact the ultimate nutritional value. Choose healthier or low-fat alternatives to your favorite toppings for a balanced meal. It’s wise to be mindful of what else you eat during the day to maximize bread’s health benefits.
VIEW OUR BRAND
9 Health Benefits of Bread
While the fillings and spreads you choose can impact the nutritional value of your meal, bread itself offers several health benefits. The nutrients in bread products can make it an essential part of your daily diet. The Nigeria Department of Agriculture suggests half the grains you eat should be whole grains as part of a healthy diet. If you enjoy bread, you’ll be happy to know it can be part of a balanced diet. You can enjoy the following health benefits.
1. Do You Know Bread Contains Fiber?
All bread contains fiber, an essential dietary nutrient. While each product has a different amount, you’ll generally find at least a gram of fiber per serving. You may know the importance of fiber for your digestive health, but there are various other ways it can help you.
Feel fuller: As your body works to break down fiber, you feel fuller for longer. Because fiber-rich foods are more filling, you’re less likely to overeat in one sitting and throughout the day, which can help with weight loss.
Manage blood sugar: High-fiber foods tend to have a lower glycemic index, a ranking that reflects how foods affect blood sugar. Having a lower GI means that fiber in some bread products slowly releases sugar into your bloodstream, helping reduce blood sugar spikes after a high-carb meal.
Improve heart health: Whole-grain bread is high in fiber, which may help reduce your risk of cardiovascular disease. U.S. dietary guidelines recommend eating three to five servings of whole grains daily. With whole-grain bread, you can get four to five grams of fiber — 17% of the recommended daily value.
Often, bread has insoluble fiber, which you’ll find in sources such as whole-wheat flour. This fiber is essential in regulating your bowel movements, preventing constipation. Your body can’t break down and absorb insoluble fiber, so it clears your digestive tract as it moves through intact. Some bread products also have soluble fiber from sources such as barley and oats. Soluble fiber dissolves in water, turning into a gel. It lowers your blood sugar and cholesterol levels.
2. Do You Know Bread Has a Prebiotic Effect?
Our bodies naturally produce beneficial bacteria known as probiotics, typically within the gut. These bacteria keep us healthy by supporting our immune systems, helping us digest food and protecting us from germs that can make us sick.
The fiber in bread is prebiotic, which means it acts as food for the probiotics. While we can’t digest prebiotic fiber, our gut bacteria can. This fiber gives our gut the nutrients it needs to support healthy digestion, immune function and maintain a healthy balance. Studies link an unhealthy gut with diseases such as diabetes, obesity, neurodegenerative disorders and even cancer.
When beneficial gut bacteria consume prebiotic fiber, they do several things, including turning it into butyric acid. This short-chain fatty acid is the most abundant SCFA in the gut and gives colon cells the energy they need to function. Eating bread with prebiotic fiber can help your colon produce more butyric acid and keep your digestive system healthy.
3. Do You Know Bread Contains Protein?
The recommended daily allowance for protein is 0.36 grams per pound of your body weight. For example, if you weigh 175 pounds, your RDA would be 63 grams daily. Does bread have protein? While it isn’t as high in this essential nutrient as other foods, it can help you reach your goals. Protein has the following benefits for your body.
Reduces your appetite: Of all the macronutrients, protein makes you feel fuller while eating less. It does this by lowering levels of ghrelin, the hunger hormone, so you can avoid overeating.
Increases muscle mass: Protein is essential for building and maintaining muscle mass and strength. Consume enough protein if you’re trying to lose weight and gain muscle.
Maintains bone health: Eating protein can help maintain bone mass as you age, preventing fractures and other issues.
Bread can be a healthy addition to your protein-rich diet. Most breads are vegetarian or vegan, which is good news if you are looking to increase your protein intake from sources other than meat or dairy.
4. Do You Know Bakers Can Enrich Bread With Micronutrients?
As you now know, bread alone includes some essential nutrients. But bakeries can enrich their products with additional micronutrients, creating more bread health benefits. When making some breads, manufacturers process and refine grains. That process often removes the outer layer of the grain, which is generally the most nutritious part.
To compensate for that nutrient loss, manufacturers add micronutrients like these into their bread products.
Iron: This trace mineral is crucial for many bodily functions. It is part of hemoglobin, a protein that sustains the lungs as they carry oxygen throughout our bodies. Iron also helps you store and use oxygen.
Thiamine: Also known as vitamin B1, thiamine turns food into the energy essential for growth, development and healthy cell function.
Riboflavin: Also known as vitamin B2, riboflavin works with other B vitamins to aid in red blood cell production, fat metabolism and the release of energy from proteins.
Niacin: You may know this nutrient as vitamin B3. Niacin helps our bodies draw energy from the nutrients in our food, creates cholesterol and fats and repairs DNA.
Calcium: More than 99% of the calcium in our body goes toward keeping our bones and teeth strong. The rest of this mineral helps blood vessels contract and expand, secreting hormones and enzymes to send messages through our nervous system and muscle function.
Those added micronutrients boost bread’s health benefits, especially for specific products and types.
5. Do You Know Bread Contains Folic Acid?
Bread manufacturers add folic acid along with other micronutrients to fortify their products. Folic acid is a synthetic version of folate, a type of B vitamin that our bodies can’t produce naturally. Fortified breads give us this essential nutrient that our bodies would otherwise miss. Folate and folic acid offer different bodily benefits, but both play a crucial role in a balanced diet.
When you eat folic acid-fortified bread, you can enjoy the following benefits:
1. Repairing and synthesizing DNA
2. Promoting cellular division
3. Maturing of red blood cells
The United States and other countries require grain product manufacturers to fortify food with folic acid to prevent folic deficiency. Many diet issues, diseases and other conditions, like pregnancy, can lead to a lack of folate for some people. Fortifying products with folic acid is also essential for promoting brain health and preventing congenital disabilities and pregnancy complications.
6. Do You Know Bread Fuels Your Body?
Low- and no-carb diet trends leave many people thinking all carbs are bad. But some carbohydrates are necessary to fuel your body for the day ahead. Carbohydrates are a macronutrient responsible for giving you energy. Carbs include starch, fiber and sugar, which you can then split into complex and simple carbs. Fiber and starch are complex, while sugar is simple, and bread contains all those carbohydrate types.
Complex carbs are better for you because they provide your body with more nutrients. Your body digests these carbs more slowly, resulting in a steady release of glucose into the bloodstream. These carbohydrates give you energy that lasts longer as your body works harder to digest them. Simple carbs will also give your body energy, but that fuel burns more quickly than starch and fiber. That makes bread products beneficial for starting your day — you may have the stamina to make it through the usual midmorning slump onto lunch.
7. Do You Know Bread Is Low in Fat?
Trans and saturated fats are unhealthy fats in butter and margarine. You’ll find zero grams of these fats in many bread products. Use those spreads sparingly on your bread to enjoy a low- to no-fat meal. In general, you should avoid trans fat and reduce your saturated fats. Eating foods with high levels of those fats can contribute to these negative health impacts:
1. Increased LDL, or bad cholesterol
2. Increased blood cholesterol
3. Higher risk of inflammation
4. Increased heart disease risk
8. Do You Know Bread Can Decrease the Risk of Cancer?
According to the American Institute for Cancer Research, some evidence suggests whole grains and foods with dietary fiber can decrease the risk of colorectal cancer. The AICR explains this discovery as indication of a relationship between some nutrients and their potential to reduce cancer risk.
This research applies to whole grains, not just whole wheat. While whole wheat and grain maintain the three components of a kernel — the bran, the germ and the endosperm — that provide nutrients, whole grains include products in addition to wheat. You can find whole-wheat bread that contains ingredients that fall under the whole-grain category, like barley and rye. Those can potentially provide this significant health benefit.
9. Do You Know Bread Can Increase Serotonin?
Serotonin is an essential hormone for regulating our moods. When you’re upbeat and happy, you’re feeling its effects. On the other hand, many people with depression have low serotonin levels.
Our brains produce this hormone, which is responsible for several other functions like sleep, memory, regulating body temperature and digestion.
It is possible to increase serotonin levels in your body by eating complex carbs. The resulting insulin boost helps your muscles draw in more amino acids, which gives tryptophan — an amino acid that plays a vital role in serotonin production — a better chance of reaching your brain. Tryptophan also plays an essential role in producing melatonin, which regulates your sleep-wake cycle.
You can enjoy improved moods and sleep by including complex carbs in your diet.
0 Comments
Thank You