Brown bread is apt for healthy weight gain : See the nutritional facts

The quality of brown bread and white bread has always been a debated issue. Both of them varies in terms of calories, sugar, protein etc.

The former contains almost 1.6 times the sugar content as compared to the latter. This is because of the use of caramel to create the brown colouring in the bread. It indicates that the flour used to produce both of these varieties of bread is the same, just the added caramel in brown bread, alters its colour and texture.

If you require higher doses of protein, iron, calcium and fibre, but don’t mind higher fats and sugar, brown bread is your calling. But, if you absolutely want to minimise your fat and sugar intake, go no further than white bread. Also note that both varieties of breads are high in refined carbs and excluding them from your diet may be the best when you are trying to lose weight.

The nutritional facts are listed below

Brown breads holds 1.08 gms of fat as compared to white bread’s 0.52 gms per 100 gms serving. Correspondingly, the saturated fatty acid content in brown bread is also more than double that of white bread.

With the same serving, the former has a marginally higher protein content, with a 0.5 gms difference per 100 gms serving of bread. This difference is not very significant, but certainly adds to the nutritional benefit of having brown bread.

Holding nearly 3 times as much iron content as white bread, brown bread is beneficial for those with iron deficiencies. An iron deficiency will slow down the production of haemoglobin in your body, which reduces the oxygen carrying capacity of the red blood cells. Lack of oxidisation in various parts of the body, leads to excessive cramping, feeling tired, cold and at times dizzy.

This is the key difference that gives brown bread the edge. The dietary fibre content in brown bread is significantly higher, at 3 gms per 100 gms serving, as compared to the negligible amount of fibre in white bread. High fibre foods are instrumental in controlling your blood sugar level, and will also make you full quicker, creating a defence against over eating. Fibre will also absorb the sugar better, making it beneficial for diabetes patients.

100 mg of calcium in brown bread narrowly beats out the 91 mg of the same in white bread. Calcium is an extremely important mineral for the human body as it is instrumental in bone development, muscle contraction, blood clotting, nerve impulse and even regulation of the heart beat.