It’s not so Wonder-ful news.
White bread is “like a bomb of sugar” and eating six or more slices a day is strongly linked to obesity, Spanish researchers said Thursday.
Results of the study, presented at the European Congress on Obesity in Bulgaria, showed a fifth of 1,391 people who ate six or more slices of white bread every day became overweight or obese.
“When you use refined flour for making bread, you lose the bran and the germ, and you lose essential nutritious components for the diet, such as vitamins,” said Miguel Martinez-Gonzalez, who teaches public health at Spain’s University of Navarra. “[Fiber] slows the absorption of sugars, but refined bread is almost like a bomb of sugar.”
And to make matters worse, low-fat foods aren’t always a great option either.
UK researchers revealed at the obesity conference that two-fifths of low-fat products contained more sugar than regular equivalents. Researchers found companies often used extra sugar to make up for loss in taste when fat was reduced.
Some low-fat foods – including Weight Watchers’ sliced cheese and thick-sliced bread — had just as many calories as regular items, the research showed.
“It’s completely counterintuitive to what you would expect,” said Dr. Matthew Capehorn, the clinical director of the Rotherham Institute for Obesity in England. “Products that are lower in fat don’t necessarily mean that you’re going to be consuming fewer calories.”
On average, researchers discovered low-fat foods had 31 percent fewer calories than regular options.
“Low-fat foods do appear on average to help reduce calorie intake and therefore may be encouraged as part of a weight-loss strategy,” said the researchers.
A Weight Watchers spokesperson maintained that its reduced-fat cheese products still have fewer calories and less fat than regular cheese and said the company is redeveloping its bread.