Whole-Wheat Bread Not Really a Healthier Option

So you thought that eating whole-wheat bread was a healthier option than white, right? Well, a new study totally blows away the belief that the "browner" the bread, the better it is for you.

Researchers at Canada's University of Guelph compared how people responded to eating certain breads for breakfast. Specifically, they looked at: white, whole wheat, whole wheat with barley and sourdough white breads.

"One of the surprising things in our work is that whole-wheat products turned out to have the least healthy responses of all, and this is not what we expected," said Prof. Terry Graham in an article reported by The Canadian Press.

Graham and his research team specifically looked at the effects of the bread on study participants' blood sugar levels. They tested subjects after eating bread for breakfast and again after eating a regular lunch.

Sourdough had the most favorable impact on blood sugar levels, keeping them lower and not spiking insulin levels.

Most surprisingly, the whole wheat fared worse on blood sugar levels than regular white bread--even the whole wheat with barley wasn't better.

Graham credits sourdough's benefits to the fermentation process it goes through, which changes the nature of the starches in the bread.

The study did not include whole-grain bread, which is a healthy option. It can be confusing trying to select a loaf of whole-grain bread over whole wheat so make sure your bread label reads "100% whole grain" or pick up a loaf to make sure it's heavy and dense. Whole-wheat bread, like white bread, tends to be light and fluffy.