The Most Unhealthy Breads You Should Leave At The Store
Everyone knows the old marketing slogan "Pepperidge Farm remembers!" But based on some of the ingredients in their bread, it seems what they remembered is their chemistry set.
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00:00Everyone knows the old marketing slogan, Pepperidge Farm remembers. But based on some of the ingredients
00:06in their bread, it seems what they remembered is their chemistry set.
00:10Like all Food Club products, the old-fashioned 12-grain enriched bread promises to add flavor
00:15to life. As the name suggests, each slice combines a whopping 12 different grains, including
00:21sunflower seed kernels, whole wheat flour, wheat bran, barley flakes, and more, which
00:26you would expect means a healthy dose of fiber with every bite. Except it doesn't. In fact,
00:32there's barely any fiber at all.
00:34Each slice of old-fashioned 12-grain enriched bread contains just one gram of dietary fiber,
00:39which means that you could chow down two entire sandwiches and still have had just 16 percent
00:44of your daily recommended intake.
00:46All ingredients on store-bought foods are listed by quantity, and considering that the
00:50first ingredient mentioned is regular old, highly processed, enriched, unbleached flour
00:56which is stripped of fiber during the manufacturing process, it seems like those grains touted
01:00on the packet don't play an overly important role in the recipe.
01:04When we think we're buying whole grain products, we may not actually be getting whole grain
01:08products."
01:09Beyond that, the bread contains not one, but four sources of added sugar, and is notably
01:14high in sodium at 190 milligrams per slice. Also, it features monoglycerides, which may
01:20contain unhealthy trans fats.
01:23Wonder Bread is soft, fluffy, and a childhood staple, but nobody today would consider it
01:28a health food. Back in the 1940s, it was a different story. In the face of widespread
01:33pellagra and beriberi outbreaks, conditions caused by a lack of niacin and thiamine, the
01:39brand started using flour fortified with various vitamins and minerals that was subsequently
01:43accredited with helping to eradicate both diseases.
01:46Yes, kids, Wonder Bread helps build good, strong bones, sturdy muscles, and it helps
01:52give you plenty of energy, too."
01:54Fast forward 80 years, and Wonder Bread's reputation isn't quite as wonderful as it
01:58was in the 20th century. It's low in fat, but Wonder Bread Classic White Sandwich Bread
02:03contains a long list of preservatives, flavor enhancers, and stabilizers, including iffy
02:08ingredients like datum and monoglycerides.
02:11While Wonder Bread likes to brag about containing as much calcium as an 8-ounce glass of milk,
02:16in light of its other downfalls, you may be better off downing the milk instead.
02:21Credit where it's due, Home Pride Buttertop Wheat Bread is relatively low in calories
02:25and fat, at 70 calories and 1 gram of unsaturated fat per slice. When you dive into its ingredients
02:32list, however, all it takes is four little words to undermine this loaf.
02:36High fructose corn syrup, the arch-nemesis of dieticians everywhere. High fructose corn
02:41syrup has been linked to insulin resistance, type 2 diabetes, and high blood pressure.
02:46Experts also say that it increases the amount of fat in our livers, potentially triggering
02:51non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.
02:53There's been a push to ban or more strictly regulate the sweetener in the past, but many
02:57brands continue to use it because it's significantly cheaper than regular sugar.
03:02Dragging the nutritional value of Home Pride Buttertop Wheat Bread down even further are
03:06multiple other unfavorable ingredients that all point towards a highly processed product,
03:11such as enriched wheat flour and monoglycerides.
03:15It's easy to fall into the trap of thinking that because Pepperidge Farm has the word
03:18farm in its name, its products are full of homegrown, wholesome ingredients. Unfortunately,
03:24this isn't quite true of its hearty white bread, which is high in sodium. And we mean
03:28extremely high in sodium. A single slice contains 230 milligrams, which is 10 percent of your
03:34daily recommended sodium intake.
03:36Scanning its ingredient list, there are a few that set off alarms. Datum, also known
03:41as diacetyl tartaric, acid esters of mono, and diaglycerides is a dough conditioner.
03:47It has been approved by the FDA, but a study by Utrecht University on rats found that datum
03:52contributes to heart muscle fibrosis and adrenal overgrowth, as well as being linked to leaky
03:57gut syndrome. Plus, despite not being a particularly sweet bread, each slice contains four grams
04:03of sugar, while adding only one gram of fiber. You'd think they'd remember how important
04:07fiber is.
04:09Potato bread tends to contain similar amounts of calories and protein to standard white
04:13bread, but is usually far richer in fiber. That's not the case with Martin's potato bread,
04:18though, which contains just one gram of dietary fiber per slice.
04:22There's a simple explanation as to why Martin's isn't packed with fiber. Its bread uses reconstituted
04:27potatoes, which can lack the nutritional value of regular potatoes. It does get bonus points
04:32for its relatively low sodium levels at 105 milligrams per slice, and the fact it contains
04:38zero cholesterol. However, it's let down by also containing datum and three grams of sugar,
04:43not to mention a buttload of other processed additives that sound more suited to a science
04:48lab than a loaf of bread.
04:50Any bread with the word sweet in its name promises a pretty sugary experience. True
04:55to its word, King's Original Hawaiian Sweet Sliced Bread contains both sugar and liquid
05:00sugar, contributing six grams of added sugar per piece. Delicious, though, that may make
05:04any sandwich made using this bread, it also means that you'll be halfway through your
05:09daily recommended added sugar allowance before you even add the fillings. Yikes.
05:14What makes this bread even more disappointing is the amount of fiber, as there's basically
05:18no fiber in each serving, just 0.5 grams. For context, you'd get more fiber from a packet
05:24of Reese's Peanut Butter Cups than two slices of King's Original Hawaiian Sweet Sliced Bread.
05:30Each slice is also pretty caloric at 120 calories per slice, so you'd be better off thinking
05:35of this bread as a dessert than a daily staple.
05:39Pepperidge Farm's Raisin Cinnamon Swirl Bread isn't designed as a savory bread, but as a
05:43sweet treat or breakfast item, and it shows in the nutritional information. True, a slice
05:48of Pepperidge Farm Raisin Cinnamon Swirl Bread contains just 100 calories and is free of
05:53high-fructose corn syrup, but it's surprisingly high in sugar, even for bread of this kind.
05:58One slice contains nine grams of sugar, five of which are added sugars. That means 27 percent
06:04of its total weight is made up of sugar, and that two slices would equal about half the
06:09amount of sugar you're meant to eat in a single day. And that sugar intake is not offset by
06:14fiber, as you get only one gram of dietary fiber in each slice.
06:19Multigrain bread is a popular choice among nutritionists, who praise its protein and
06:23fiber levels and its ability to improve gut health. However, bread can only re-app these
06:28benefits if its main ingredients are whole grains, which is absolutely not the case with
06:33Country Hearth Multigrain Bread.
06:35The first ingredient mentioned on each loaf is enriched, unbleached flour. Yep, the same
06:40flour used for standard white bread. While its fiber content is at least passable at
06:46There aren't really many redeeming features for the Country Hearth Multigrain Bread. It
06:50contains light brown sugar, molasses, raisin juice concentrate, and honey, giving each
06:55slice a total of three grams of added sugar, and it's packed with additives and preservatives.
07:01That includes calcium propionate, a salt that's used to extend the lifespan of baked goods
07:06and is generally recognized as safe by the FDA. Though a Harvard study found that it
07:11can increase blood glucose and potentially increase the risk of diabetes.
07:16Thomas' Breads touts its Cinnamon Raisin Swirl Bread as its most popular flavor, and we're
07:21not surprised. Everything about this bread screams indulgence, from the swirls of luxurious
07:27cinnamon to heaps of juicy raisins. Unlike a lot of baked goods, this indulgence doesn't
07:32translate to high fat content. It does, however, give it a pretty hefty amount of sugar at
07:37six grams per slice. If you're looking for nutritional value, there's not much to be
07:42found here. Each slice contains next to no dietary fiber, at less than one gram a slice,
07:48and the majority of its ingredient list is made up of the typical hallmarks of highly
07:52processed foods, such as monoglycerides, calcium propionate, soy lecithin, and datum. While
07:58it's fine to grab a slice of this as a sweet treat once in a while, this definitely isn't
08:02the kind of bread you want to be reaching for if you're after a healthy snack.
08:07By its very nature, fluffy, buttery Texas Toast is going to have iffier nutritional
08:12stats per serving than most breads, as it's sliced at twice the usual thickness. Sara
08:17Lee Texas Toast still earns a special shout-out, though, for its sodium content. A single slice
08:23of this bread contains 200 milligrams of sodium, or roughly 9% of your daily recommended intake.
08:30As is often the case with unhealthy bread, this is paired with a confusing lack of fiber.
08:35In fact, each slice has less than one gram of fiber, which isn't just low but borderline
08:40non-existent. Its main ingredient is the usual culprit in white bread, our old friend enriched
08:46wheat flour, which means it's not offering too much in terms of nutritional value. It
08:51also contains calcium propionate, which, as we've seen, isn't the healthiest preservative
08:56thanks to its potential impact on blood glucose.
08:59The Pepperidge Farm Farmhouse Potato Bread does contain potatoes, even if they are dehydrated,
09:05as well potato flour. But neither is the major ingredient. Instead, it's the repeat
09:09offender of enriched wheat flour that crops up first in the ingredient list, meaning all
09:14the bran and germ leaves were sifted out, and very little dietary fiber remains. That
09:19becomes pretty evident once you look at the nutritional information. You'll only find
09:23one gram of fiber per slice here.
09:26In place of fiber, you'll find four grams of added sugar in Pepperidge Farm Farmhouse
09:30Potato Bread, and a significant amount of sodium at 190 milligrams. Put into context,
09:35that means that a sandwich made with this bread is going to count as 16 percent of both
09:40your daily recommended sugar and sodium intake. Tasty though it may be, there are definitely
09:45healthier potato breads out there, and it's surprisingly easy to make your own at home.
09:50"...potatoes. Boil em, mash em, stick em in a stew."
09:55Just like King's Hawaiian Sweet Sliced Bread, the King's Original Hawaiian Sweet Rolls take
09:59inspiration from classic Portuguese sweet bread, which means they're practically defined
10:03by sugar. That means that the high sugar content of these soft, buttery rolls shouldn't come
10:08as too much of a surprise. However, in other nutritional aspects, the rolls actually perform
10:13even worse in ways that you wouldn't have believed possible.
10:17While the company's sliced bread contains a measly 0.5 grams of fiber per slice, a King's
10:22Original Hawaiian Sweet Roll offers a grand total of zero grams. They're light in the
10:26sodium department at 70 milligrams a roll, which is a plus, but half of each roll's fat
10:31content comes from saturated fat. You'll also find a lengthy list of scientific-sounding
10:36additives in the ingredients list, such as ammonium sulfate, sorbitan monosterate, and
10:42myocrystalline cellulose, all of which are surefire indicators that a product has been
10:47highly processed.
10:50Everything about Orowheat Grains' Almighty Gut Balance Bread sounds so promising. According
10:55to the Orowheat website, it's baked with gut-fortifying prebiotics that feed the friendly
11:00bacteria in your stomach, and whole grains such as flax and barley. That means it's solid
11:04on the fiber front at 7 grams per serving, which in this case is two slices. It's also
11:09surprisingly high in protein, with 7 grams per serving, and is free of high-fructose
11:14corn syrup and artificial colors, preservatives, and flavors.
11:18Where it disappoints slightly is the sodium content. A serving of Orowheat Grains' Almighty
11:23Gut Balance Bread contains 310 milligrams, which is 13 percent of the amount of sodium
11:29you're supposed to eat in an entire day. A serving also contains 4 grams of sugar from
11:34three different sources — sugar, honey, and molasses. There's a significant amount
11:38of fat, too, with 3.5 grams coming from soybean and palm oils.