Bread is one of humankind's oldest and most valuable food staples. It's rich in energy-boosting carbohydrates. But if you're dieting to regulate the amount of sugar your body uses, remember that bread represents a big dose of glucose. This is because glucose is a component found in all carbohydrates, including those in bread.
Carbohydrate Content
The grains or cereals used to make any type of bread are naturally rich in starches and other carbohydrates. The U.S. Department of Agriculture, USDA, estimates that breads can pack as much as 72 grams of carbohydrates per 100 grams, or about 2.5 ounces of carbohydrates per 3.5 ounces of bread, depending largely on what flour was used to make the bread.
Yet it's not just the flour. Other ingredients in bread, like sugar, milk and eggs, also add to its total carbohydrate content. While cooked eggs and milk contribute only a few grams of carbohydrates, granulated sugars can add a whopping 99 grams, or 3.5 ounces, to the mix.
Glucose
Asking how much glucose is in bread's carbohydrates is a bit like asking how much hydrogen is in water. Michigan State University's overview of carbohydrates describes glucose as the most common monosaccharide, or simple carbohydrate molecule, found in food. Glucose can be found either as a monosaccharide or as structural parts of more complex carbohydrates, called disaccharides.
Your body's cells, however, prefer absorbing nutrients in their simplest forms. The bread you eat must pass through your digestive system until enzymes break down all starches and complex carbohydrates into monosaccharides such as glucose.
Glycemic Index
The amount of glucose in bread isn't the only thing you have to keep track of. There's also its glycemic index, or GI.
According to the U.K.'s Flour Advisory Board, GI is the 1-to-100-scale ranking of carbohydrate-rich foods according to the speed by which the human body can break them down into glucose. Bread is considered to be a high-GI food, with a ranking of more than 70, which means your body can obtain glucose from it fairly quickly, resulting in a quick rise of your blood sugar levels.
Good Carbohydrates
Glucose is still an essential nutrient. You only have to make sure your body gets the right amount of it at a regulated pace, rather than in big, sudden boosts. What your body needs is more complex carbohydrates, which take longer to break down into glucose, helping you avoid the simple sugar rush.
You don't have to avoid bread altogether. Harvard School of Public Health gives the bottom line: Choose foods with the "better," more complex carbohydrates, such as whole grains, vegetables, fruits and beans. Whole-grain breads fit the bill just fine, as long as they're not laden with too much carbohydrate-adding sugar.
