✦ More fibre than white ✦ Useful B vitamins and iron ✦ Lower GI than white bread ✦ Readily available staple

Brown bread is made with a blend of white and wholemeal flour, sitting nutritionally between the two. It contains more fibre, B vitamins, iron, and magnesium than white bread but less than a true wholemeal loaf. It provides useful iodine if made with iodised salt or dairy, and its retained bran gives a slightly lower glycaemic impact than white bread.

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Preparation note

Check the label — "brown" bread is a colour term, not a guarantee of wholegrain content. Look for "wholemeal" or "whole grain" as the first ingredient for maximum fibre.

Sources: NHS Bread and grains · CoFID 2021

Macronutrients per 100g

207
kcal
Energy
7.90
g
Protein
42.1
g
Carbs
3.50
g
Fibre
2.00
g
Fat
3.40
g
Sugars
0.43
g
Saturates
1.00
g
Salt

How to read GI & GL

GI (Glycemic Index) rates how fast the carbohydrates in a food raise blood glucose compared to pure glucose (= 100). Low GI ≤ 55 means a slow, steady rise. But GI says nothing about how much carbohydrate you're actually eating.

GL (Glycemic Load) fixes that. It multiplies GI by the actual grams of carbohydrate per typical serving: GL = GI × carbs per serving ÷ 100. This makes it the more useful number for real-world blood sugar management.

Why they can disagree — a food with low GI can still carry a high GL if the serving is large and carb-dense. Conversely, watermelon has a high GI (72) but a low GL (4) because a normal portion contains very few carbs. Always read both together.

Low GL ≤ 10 Modest total glucose impact per serving.
Medium GL 11–19 Moderate impact — manageable for most.
High GL ≥ 20 Significant carb load per serving. Consider a smaller portion.

Source: Atkinson et al., International Tables of GI & GL Values 2021, Am J Clin Nutr.

Glycemic Index & Load

62
GI Score
🟡 Medium GI
9
GL / Serving
Low Load

Medium GI food — moderate effect on blood sugar. Pair with protein, fat, or fibre to lower the overall meal GI.

Glycemic Load (GL = GI × carbs ÷ 100) accounts for portion size. A low GL means this food has minimal real-world blood sugar impact.

Source: Atkinson et al., International Tables of GI & GL Values 2021, Am J Clin Nutr

Vitamins & Minerals

Nutrient Per 100g % Daily Value* Level
Chloride 710 mg 89%
Potassium 216 mg 11%
Calcium 186 mg 23%
Phosphorus 157 mg 22%
Folate 45.0 µg 23%
Magnesium 45.0 mg 12%
Niacin equivalents (NE) 4.90 mg 31%
Selenium 4.00 µg 7%
Chromium 3.00 µg 8%
Niacin (B3) 2.80 mg 18%
Iron 2.20 mg 16%
Zinc 1.30 mg 13%
Manganese 1.14 mg 57%
Pantothenic Acid (B5) 0.460 mg 8%
Thiamin (B1) 0.220 mg 20%
Copper 0.170 mg 17%
Vitamin B6 0.170 mg 12%
Riboflavin (B2) 0.070 mg 5%
Vitamin E (alpha-TE) 0.010 mg 0%
Vitamin D 0.000 µg 0%
Vitamin A (RE) 0.000 µg 0%
Vitamin C 0.000 mg 0%
Vitamin B12 0.000 µg 0%
Iodine 6.00 µg 4%
Polyunsaturated fat (PUFA) 0.650 g —
Monounsaturated fat 0.430 g —
Trans fat 0.020 g —
Maltose 3.00 g —
Fructose 0.300 g —
Sucrose 0.000 g —
Glucose (dextrose) 0.000 g —
Cholesterol 0.000 mg —
Beta-carotene 0.000 µg —
Biotin (Vitamin B7) 3.00 µg 6%
Retinol (vitamin A) 0.000 µg 0%
Omega-6 (Linoleic acid) 0.580 g —
Omega-3 (Alpha-linolenic acid) 0.080 g —
Omega-3 (DPA n-3) — Docosapentaenoic acid (n-3) 0.000 g —
Omega-3 (EPA) — Eicosapentaenoic acid 0.000 g —
Omega-6 (GLA) 0.000 g —
Omega-6 (AA) — Arachidonic acid 0.000 g —
Omega-3 (DHA) — Docosahexaenoic acid 0.000 g —
Omega-3 (SDA) 0.000 g —

* % Daily Value is the proportion of an adult EU Nutrient Reference Value (NRV) supplied by 100g of this food. NRVs are the labelling standard — the same basis as the “%RI” figures printed on food packaging — so these percentages are directly comparable with a shop label. They are a single adult figure and do not vary by age or sex, which is why they sometimes differ from UK dietary reference values: the NRV for vitamin C is 80mg where the UK RNI is 40mg. When Nutriofia assesses your own intake in the reports and trackers, it uses the age- and sex-specific UK values instead.

Fibre is shown without a percentage. Our fibre values use the UK Englyst NSP method, while the published 30g daily goal is an AOAC figure — the two are measured differently and a single percentage would mislead. How we source and normalise our data →

Sources: NHS Bread and grains; CoFID 2021
Bread Bread Phytochemical data available 🇬🇧 CoFID 2021 · 11-971