There are about 70 calories in a slice of bread made of white or whole wheat flour. That's a statistic that anyone battling a weight problem and looking for a lower calorie alternative should know. Supermarket shelves are brimming with a variety of lower calorie breads and alternatives to bread. According to the Nielsen consumer market data company, Israelis spend NIS 114 million a year on light bread and NIS 157 million on low-calorie alternatives to bread.
The difference in light bread is primarily in the kind of wheat and flour it contains, which can be either whole wheat, pre-sprouted whole wheat, white wheat flour or dark wheat flour. In 100 grams of light bread, there are generally about 170 or 180 calories, or about 40 to 50 calories a slice, meaning up to 40% fewer calories than regular bread. In addition, consumers have the option of crispbread ("pat" in Hebrew ), rice cakes and dry packaged toast (sometimes referred to as "rusks" ), some of which offer lower calorie alternatives per slice than light bread.
Do light breads and the other alternatives really provide a benefit to health and diet? We consulted with three senior dietitians: Michal Sukman of the Kupat Holim Maccabi health maintenance organization; Olga Raz, a clinical dietitian and director of the nutrition department at the Sourasky Medical Center in Tel Aviv; and Dr. Rali Abel, a dietitian with the Kupat Holim Clalit HMO. We presented them with the ingredients and nutritional content of four types of light bread, two types of rice crackers, three types of crispbread and three types of dry rusk toast, without giving them brand names. Their responses provided food for thought.
1. Alternatives to bread are not always as satisfying and sometimes lead to consuming more calories than if the individual had eaten light bread. "The rate at which carbohydrates from bread are broken down into glucose in the blood is slower than the carbohydrates from bread substitutes," explains Dr. Abel, "and therefore two slices of bread are more satisfying than two rice cakes, two pieces of crispbread or even four of them. At the same time, insulin levels go up, sugar levels decrease immediately, and then we eat more and more, compared to bread, from which carbohydrates are broken down into sugar over a longer period of time and therefore the process is slower and more satisfying."
2. If you manage to substitute two slices of regular bread with two slices of light bread or two rice cakes, you will avoid a substantial number of calories according to Sukman. The problem is in how people think about it. "They tell themselves that two slices of light bread are roughly equivalent to a slice of regular bread, and then allow themselves to eat four slices of light bread, and in the process increase the number of calories. You also have to take into consideration the calories in the spreads they put on each slice."
The same principle applies to alternatives to bread: "If instead of eating two slices of bread you eat two rice cakes, then you save calories because a rice cake can contain as little as 15 calories. But if you ultimately eat five or six of them, because you think they're low-calorie, the final number of calories is higher."
3. The number of rice cakes or slices of crispbread in 100 grams is in fact higher than the number of slices of light bread, but the number of calories is more than double in Unilever Swedish crispbread, for example, where there are 345 calories in 100 grams, and in Osem "Prihonim" made of whole grain rice there are 374 calories in 100 grams. In light breads there are 170 to 180 calories per 100 grams.
4. In addition to considering a calorie count, it is important that the product contains whole grains. "A product from whole grains is considered nutritionally rich. It contains vitamins, minerals and dietary fibers that are important for proper digestion and help prevent disease. Products made of white flour only contain empty calories," says Sukman.
This point also applies to light bread and bread alternatives.
In addition, there is bread made with pre-sprouted whole wheat flour ("trom-nevuta" in Hebrew ), meaning the flour was ground after the germination or sprouting process began but before it was complete. Sukman says this wheat has particularly high nutritional content.
5. Look for the first ingredient listed on a product. That's the largest ingredient. If you see whole wheat flour as the third or fourth ingredient while the first ingredient is regular flour, you should realize that the product is made mostly from refined white flour.
6. Don't let the color of bread fool you. If a loaf of bread looks dark, it could be made of dark flour but not whole wheat flour.
7. Most light breads contain more dietary fiber than non-bread alternatives, particularly if the bread is made of whole wheat. "Dietary fiber is essential for the body. It eases digestion problems and helps create better probiotic bacteria and prevent colon cancer," says Dr. Abel.
Of the products examined, more dietary fiber was found in bread made from whole wheat flour, 12 to 15 grams of fiber per 100 grams, compared to about 9 grams of fiber in white wheat flour. In a standard rather than light loaf of Israeli bread ("lehem ahid" in Hebrew ) there are about 5 grams of fiber per 100 grams, whereas in regular whole wheat bread there are about 6.5 grams of fiber. Most of the alternatives to bread contain substantially lower levels of fiber.
8. Commercially-produced toast slices, sometimes called Holland rusks and known as "tznimim" in Hebrew, are not a healthy dietetic alternative to light bread or the bread substitutes examined. Other alternatives have negligible amounts of saturated fat, but rusks have 3 grams of saturated fat per 100 grams. Dr. Abel comments: "Some of the products include palm oil, which is considered a saturated fat and less healthy."
Willi Food, which sells "mini toasts" containing palm oil, said in response: "The Willi Food toasts are nourishing and taste good and have undergone all the required standard tests. The product is very successful with consumers."
In addition to the ingredients mentioned, rusks such are these are generally made from white flour. In two of the toast products we examined, sold by Osem and Green, the first ingredient is white flour, whereas the product sold by Willi Food does have whole wheat flour in addition to white flour.
The nutritionists also discovered that some of the products tested are high in salt and sodium. Osem and Green products had 680 to 800 milligrams of sodium per 100 grams. Willi Food's product, on the other hand, had 400 milligrams, similar to light bread. It should be noted that to eat 100 grams of the toast, you would have to eat almost the entire package.
The toasts are not a better alternative when it comes to fiber. "If you eat one as a treat it's not terrible, but you have to understand that it is not dietetic and doesn't contribute to your health," Sukman says.
Raz adds: "It's a problematic product. You can eat it with a cup of coffee, as something crispy instead of a cookie, but it is a not a satisfying food."
9. Note the ingredients in crispbread. Some have less highly-recommended ingredients. The product sold by Patit was found by the dietitians to be made of wheat and cornflour that are considered less healthy than whole wheat flour. "The second product [by Wasa] includes only whole rye flour, water and salt. From my standpoint, that is an ideal food with only quality raw ingredients. That's how our food is supposed to look, without additives like other crispbreads," says Sukman.
With regard to the vitamins and minerals in the Patit products, the dietitians said the amounts were small and not particularly significant. In addition, the products had added sugar, which is not contained in other alternatives to bread or Wasa crispbread.
10. A more expensive product is not necessarily a healthier or more nutritious one. For example, the less expensive Wasa crispbread, which costs about NIS 10.50 for a 270 gram package, was preferred by the dietitians to that of Patit, which costs about NIS 13.20 for a 250 gram pack.
With regard to bread, too, the dietitians found two products to be similar nutritionally, but one, Angel Bakery's French-style bread, was made with whole wheat flour and dark flour and cost NIS 16.30 while the other, Angel's light "Eynan" bread, was made with the preferred pre-sprouted flour and whole wheat flour, and cost NIS 13.00.
