What Really Determines Bread’s Nutritional Value? Numbers, Labels and the Wholegrain Illusion
Let’s start with something simple: a basic bread recipe.
A standard loaf is most often made from:
- 600 g flour
- 400 ml water
- salt, sourdough starter or yeast
- seeds or other additions
When baked, bread loses about 10% of its weight as moisture evaporates.
This means one very important thing:
Flour makes up about 60% of finished bread. And flour determines the bread’s nutritional value, not its name, colour or marketing.
The facts about “wholegrain bread” in Latvian shops
Names commonly found on the Latvian market include:
- wholegrain bread
- grain bread
- country-style wholegrain bread
- made with wholegrain flour
Look at the label and the picture is often this:
- wholegrain flour: 10% to 30% of the total flour
- the rest: white, refined wheat or other flour
What does that mean in numbers?
If a loaf contains:
- 600 g flour in total
- only 10% wholegrain flour
- that is 60 g wholegrain flour
- and 540 g white, refined (or other) flour
And remember: flour makes up 60% of the whole loaf.
A provocative but logical question
Can bread made with 90% refined flour really be called wholegrain bread?
Would it be more honest, like the term “cream product”, to call it a “wholegrain bread product”?
Because the nutritional contribution of wholegrains in such bread is symbolic rather than significant.
So where is the healthy threshold?
In the context of nutrition specialists and research, a product can be considered meaningfully wholegrain if:
- at least 50% of its flour is wholegrain
- ideally, 70–100%
Only then do wholegrains really provide:
- more fibre
- more minerals
- more stable blood sugar
- a longer-lasting feeling of fullness
Since 2011, Grauda Spēks has baked bread from 100% wholegrain flour, without adding white refined flour at all.
Not because it is a trend, but because the name of a bread should match what is in it.
The conclusion in one sentence
If flour makes up 60% of bread, then flour is what determines whether that bread is nourishing, and you can find out only by reading the label.
Scientific sources
- Reynolds, A. et al. (2019). Carbohydrate quality and human health. The Lancet, 393(10170), 434–445.
- Aune, D. et al. (2016). Whole grain consumption and risk of cardiovascular disease, cancer and mortality. BMJ, 353:i2716.
- Slavin, J. L. (2013). Whole grains and human health. Nutrition Research Reviews, 26(1), 1–10.
- EFSA Panel on Dietetic Products, Nutrition and Allergies (2010). Dietary reference values for carbohydrates and dietary fibre. EFSA Journal, 8(3):1462.