Whole Wheat Bread vs. White Bread

Wheat Bread VS White Bread

There is a lot of differences between white bread and whole wheat bread.

But the question is which one is better for you?

Processing and Nutritional Value:

Wheat Bread

Flour is made from wheat berries.
The wheat berry is made up of
the bran, the germ and the endosperm.
All parts are filled with nutrients and are
used in whole wheat flour.

White Bread

White bread on the other hand, uses only the
endosperm - the starchy inner layer. There is a
total of 30 nutrients missing in white bread. The
nutritional difference is immense and has
measurable impact on our health.

Nutrient Content:

Wheat Bread

Whole wheat is much higher in fiber, vitamins B6 and E,
magnesium, zinc, folic acid and chromium.

White Bread

When flour is refined, it loses the most nutritious parts
of the grain—the fiber, essential fatty acids, and most of
the vitamins and minerals. In fact, about 30 nutrients are
removed, but by law only five must be added
back (though others often are): iron, niacin, thiamin, riboflavin
and folic acid. There’s so little fiber left after processing that you’d
have to eat eight pieces of white bread to get the fiber in just one piece
of whole wheat bread.

Calories/Nutritional Info: (from http://www.calorieking.com/)

Wheat Bread

White Bread

Study:

“Whole grains provide health benefits that other foods don’t. In a Harvard study of 75,000 nurses, those who ate at least three servings a day of whole grains cut their heart attack risk by 35 percent and were less likely to get into weight or bowel trouble. By contrast, those who ate more processed foods—such as white bread, white rice and sodas—were more than twice as likely to develop diabetes. “Science continues to support the key role of whole grains in reducing chronic illnesses,” says Len Marquart, professor of nutrition at the University of Minnesota and author of the first health claim for whole grains approved by the US Food and Drug Administration. “

-www.vegitariantimes.com

*In a 10-year Harvard study completed in 1994, men and women who ate high-fiber breads had fewer heart attacks and strokes than those whose tastes ran to bagels and baguettes.

*Simply switching from white to whole wheat bread can lower heart disease risk by 20 percent, according to research from the University of Washington reported in the April 2, 2003
issue of The Journal of the American Medical Association.

*Fiber has long been known to aid digestive health too.

*Fiber can help you lose or maintain weight because eating fiber-dense wheat bread helps you feel full.

But how do we know if the bread is really whole wheat?

Color used to be a clue, but no more. Although white bread is white because it’s been bleached, some dark bread has just had caramel coloring added to it. Look for “whole grain” or “whole wheat” as the first ingredient on the label. If any other ingredient is first, put the loaf back and keep looking.

“Watch out for words like 'wheat flour' or 'enriched wheat flour'
as they can be mostly made from white flour with just a small
amount of whole wheat added in.

Look for 'whole wheat' or other whole grains, like oat. And don't
be mislead by the name of the product. Names like wheat, whole
bran, stoned wheat, 12 grain and others are still mostly white
flour. The only way to know for sure is to read the label.”

-http://ezinearticles.com/?3-Important-Differences-Between-White-Bread-and-Whole-Wheat&id=44657

Wheat Bread vs White Bread

What do you think?