Shopping for healthy bread should be simple. Your one-sentence guide: Buy 100% whole grain, look for less sodium, and don’t worry about added sugars. But today’s breads aren’t so simple—many are “keto,” “gluten free,” “made with whole grain,” “thin sliced,” “sprouted,” or provide “digestive health” support. Here’s our take on which of those selling points are more about marketing than health…and which breads deserve your sandwich fillings. 

For a list of breads that meet our criteria for whole grains, sodium, and ingredients (you’ll find those criteria in the “What to look for” sections), check our chart. 

This article comes from Nutrition Action. We don’t accept any paid advertising or corporate or government donations. Any products we recommend—like these “Best Bites” and “Honorable Mentions”—have been vetted by our staff and are not advertisements by the manufacturers. They’re just healthy foods we think you’d like to know about! 

1. Go for 100% whole grain…and don’t be fooled by other grain claims.

If your bread label says “100% whole grain” or “100% whole wheat,” it’s a slam dunk. (Exception: Scroll down for our explanation of why some “100% whole grain” gluten-free breads don’t have as much whole grain and fiber as you might expect.) 

Knowing what percent of the grain is whole matters because health authorities recommend not just eating more whole grains but also eating less refined grains.

If you see no percent listed on the package, head to the ingredient list. Look for “whole wheat” or other “whole” grains or flour. Don’t be fooled by ingredients like “wheat flour” or “enriched wheat flour”—they’re refined grains (aka white flour).

Source: Adapted from The Whole Grains Council. 

What is sprouted grain bread?

“Sprouted grains” are typically whole because a grain needs all of its parts—the bran, germ, and endosperm—intact in order to sprout. (Grains are dormant seeds that can sprout under the right conditions.)

Why bother with sprouting? Some proponents note that sprouting grains reduces their levels of naturally occurring phytate, a compound that can bind to whole grains’ iron and zinc, slightly reducing how much of each you absorb. It’s a nice perk, but most people needn’t worry about the impact of phytate because it’s too minor to matter. In other words, there’s no need to avoid unsprouted whole grains because of phytate.

Products like Food for Life Ezekiel 4:9 Bread are made with sprouted grains and sprouted legumes that are mashed to create a dough (that’s why they call their bread “flourless”), so their grains are 100% whole. In contrast, other products, like Silver Hills Soft Wheat Bread, are made with a mix of sprouted grains and refined flour.

Is that bread whole grain or not?

Why rely on the label’s ingredient list to check for whole grains?  

Some breads’ names or claims sound good...but they may or may not be 100% whole grain:

• Grams whole grain. Grams alone don’t tell you what percent of the grains are whole. A bread with “8g whole grain” could also have 8 (or more) grams of white flour.
• “Made with whole grain.” That usually means white flour mixed with whole grain. For example, 32% of the grain in Sara Lee White Made with Whole Grain is whole, says the label. Most other breads won’t tell you.
• Wheat bread. Most bread is made of wheat—whole or refined—so “wheat bread” doesn’t mean much. For example, Nature’s Own Honey Wheat Bread has more refined than whole-grain flour. (Enriched wheat flour is the first ingredient.)
• Multigrain bread. “Multigrain” just means “more than one grain,” so the bread can be mostly white flour with a smattering of whole grains (like Sara Lee Artesano Smooth Multigrain Bread) or, sometimes, a good dose of them (like Arnold Whole Grains Healthy Multi-Grain Bread).
• Oat, oat bran, or oatmeal bread. Like “multigrain” or “wheat,” there’s typically more white flour than whole-grain oats in so-called “oat” breads. For example, white flour is the first (main) ingredient in Pepperidge Farm Farmhouse Homestyle Oat Bread.

What to look for

Our Best Bites and Honorable Mentions have grains that are all—or nearly all—whole. We disqualified breads with refined (white) flour unless it was far down the ingredient list near yeast, gluten, or salt, a sign that there’s little there. (Tip: “Cultured wheat flour” is added in small amounts to help preserve bread, so we ignored it.) What about the fiber-poor starches like tapioca and arrowroot that are often added to gluten-free breads? Think of them as white flour.

2. Only opt for gluten-free breads if you must avoid gluten.

Unless you need to avoid gluten because you know you have celiac disease or gluten sensitivity, don’t bother with gluten-free breads. Mimicking gluten’s texture is tough, so most gluten-free breads mix in tapioca or arrowroot. We counted both of those starchy, fiber-poor ingredients as refined flour when we chose Best Bites and Honorable Mentions.

What’s more, the whole grain that gluten-free breads do offer is typically brown rice, which doesn’t have nearly as much intact, naturally occurring fiber as the whole wheat or whole rye that predominates in other 100% whole-grain breads. And you may not get much. For example, a loaf of Udi’s Gluten Free Whole Grain Bread has more tapioca starch than brown rice flour.

The best brown rice bread we found: Food for Life Gluten Free Brown Rice Bread. While it does contain some tapioca flour, its first ingredient is organic brown rice flour. 

Heads up: Whole-grain labels on gluten-free breads may ignore refined starches

Canyon Bakehouse Gluten Free Ancient Grain Bread is a “100% whole grain bread,” says the label. But its second ingredient (after water) is tapioca flour. Then come brown rice flour, whole-grain sorghum flour, potato starch, whole-grain oat flour, and tiny amounts of other whole-grain flours. Tapioca flour and potato starch aren’t grains, so the “% whole grain” doesn’t apply to them.

The bottom line: Don’t be surprised if food companies label a gluten-free bread “100% whole grain” when non-grain starches or flours—like potato, cassava or tapioca, or arrowroot—are present. Think of those ingredients as white flour.

3. “Keto” and “low carb” breads come with caveats. 

Many keto breads deliver a double whammy. For one, you’re missing out on heart-healthy whole grains, including their intact fiber. 

Second, you’re often getting a concentrated dose of processed fibers that replace the missing grains. For example, a slice of Arnold, Brownberry, or Oroweat Keto Bread has “1 gram of net carbs” and 9 grams of fiber, most of it from modified wheat starch, inulin, oat fiber, and soluble corn fiber. Those and other processed fibers may not have the same benefits as whole grains’ intact fiber…and some (like inulin) may cause gas.

In fact, processed fibers are one reason why we don’t set a fiber minimum for our Best Bites and Honorable Mentions. It wouldn’t mean much. And because whole-grain breads are almost always made with fiber-rich whole wheat or rye, any “100% whole” pick delivers a good shot of intact, unprocessed fiber. (Why not keep things simple?)

If “keto” is your preference, though, a few brands break the mold. Base Culture Gluten Free Original Keto Bread (sold in the freezer case) has a little added starch (from arrowroot flour) and just misses our sodium cutoff, but the ingredient list is all real food—including eggs, almond butter, flaxseed, psyllium, and almond flour. On the downside, it’ll set your pocketbook back roughly three times as much as a healthy whole wheat bread. (We paid a whopping $11 for a 1 lb. loaf.) The taste? Not bad! (We thought the texture was a little cake-y, though, even when toasted.) 

Want more options? If your idea of a sandwich is flexible, try one of our picks for a healthy low-carb tortilla or wrap instead. 

4. Before you check any other Nutrition Facts, check the serving size. 

A serving of most breads is one slice. But some thinner or smaller loaves list two slices (like Silver Hills Little Big Bread). 

All of the numbers in our chart are for one slice (we adjusted any labels that listed two). But if you’re staring at the Nutrition Facts labels of two breads at the grocery store, don’t compare their calories, sodium, added sugar, or anything else until you’re sure that you’re looking at the same number of slices.

5. Breads have more sodium than you’d expect, but some do better than others.

A slice of Sara Lee Artesano Smooth Multigrain Bread may not taste salty, but it has 220 milligrams of sodium—more than a 1 oz. serving of Lay’s Potato Chips (140 mg) or a small order of McDonald’s Fries (190 mg). 

How do foods that don’t taste salty sneak in sodium? The salt is baked into the bread, not sprinkled on the surface. Two slices of bread can easily rack up 300 to 400 mg of sodium (roughly 15% of a day’s max) before you add any more sodium from mayo, mustard, cheese, or deli turkey. 

Our Best Bites and Honorable Mentions single out breads with less sodium, but if you’re watching every milligram, try even-lower ones:  

• Pepperidge Farm Thin Sliced 100% Whole Wheat (65 mg per slice)
• Food for Life Ezekiel 4:9 (75 mg per slice) or Low Sodium (0 mg)
• Dave’s Killer Bread Thin-Sliced Powerseed (90 mg per slice)
• Silver Hills Little Big Bread (95 mg per slice)

What to look for

Our Best Bites have no more than 120 mg of sodium per slice. Honorable Mentions can have up to 150 mg.  

6. Most breads add only a little sugar.

Most breads that are otherwise healthy—they’re all or nearly all whole grain and modest in sodium—don’t add more than a few grams of sugar (if that). So we didn’t set added sugar limits for our Best Bites and Honorable Mentions.

Why not simply call for zero grams of added sugar? Because we found almost no widely available whole-grain breads that would qualify. Dave’s Killer Bread Powerseed comes close (1 gram per slice). But even 2 or 3 grams of added sugar is only 4% to 6% of a day’s max (50 grams) for a 2,000-calorie diet.

A handful of larger slices go higher. A hefty 1.6 oz. slice of Dave’s Killer Bread Good Seed hits 5 grams, putting a two-slice sandwich at 10 grams. (Its sodium and refined grains disqualify it from a Best Bite or Honorable Mention anyway.)

Heads up: A few breads—like Pepperidge Farm Light Style Soft Wheat—add sucralose. The artificial sweetener, which we rate as “avoid” in our Chemical Cuisine Food Additive Safety Ratings, causes cancer in mice and raised blood sugar in some human studies.

What to look for

Our Best Bites and Honorable Mentions have no sucralose in the ingredients list. If the bread is otherwise healthy, don’t worry if it has a few grams of added sugar.  

7. Try thin-sliced bread.

What’s in the healthiest diet? Whole grains…but not loads of them.

A healthy 2,000-calorie DASH-like diet piles on 10 servings of fruits and vegetables a day, so it has room for just four 1 oz. servings of grains. But many bread slices weigh in at 1½ oz. (42 grams) or more. So if you eat around 2,000 calories a day, a two-slice sandwich could gobble up three of your four daily grain servings.

Want more flexibility…or just a lighter option for a peanut butter toast snack, a slice of toast at breakfast, whatever? Try “thin-sliced” breads from Dave’s Killer Bread or Pepperidge Farm. None top 1 oz. per slice, most are Best Bites, and since thin-sliced breads are smaller, you also tend to save on sodium and sugar. 

More Best Bites: Nature’s Own 100% Whole Wheat and Sara Lee 100% Whole Wheat aren’t “thin-sliced,” but they’re smaller than most regular breads (60 calories per slice). Ditto for petite-on-purpose loaves like Silver Hills Little Big Bread (50 calories) and Arnold Small Slice Whole Grains 100% Whole Wheat Bread (70 calories). 

8. A bread that “supports digestive health” may be no better than another 100% whole-grain bread.

“SUPPORTS DIGESTIVE HEALTH,” shouts the bag of Arnold Whole Grains 100% Whole Wheat Bread.  

Really? What’s in it? 

The smaller print explains, “Fiber in whole grains supports digestive wellness.” Translation: It’s no better for your gut than any other 100% whole wheat bread. The naturally occurring fibers in whole grains, vegetables, fruits, and beans all support your “digestive wellness.”

As long as companies don’t name a disease or health condition, they can make impressive-sounding claims about how a food “supports” a structure or function of the body with little oversight by the Food and Drug Administration. Food marketers love it.

9. For a whole-grain rye bread, skip the big brands.

Whole-grain rye and its flour are rich in fiber. Ounce for ounce, rye has even more fiber (4 grams) than whole wheat (3 grams). But most supermarket “rye bread” isn’t 100% whole-grain. In fact, Arnold and Pepperidge Farm Seeded Rye Breads have more white flour than rye flour.  

For 100% whole-grain rye, look for Mestemacher “All Natural Famous German” Whole Rye Bread. The uber-hearty bread is mostly whole rye kernels plus whole-grain rye flour. 

Just think of each 2.5 oz. slice—and its 270 mg of sodium—as two slices of bread. That thick rye slab makes a sturdy base for toast mini-meals like:  

• Avocado toast with tomato
• Peanut butter with banana
• Cottage cheese or labne (a thick spreadable yogurt “cheese”) with sliced strawberries (sweet) or cucumber and cracked pepper (savory)

10. Allergic to sesame? Check the ingredients every time.

Ingredient labels must now disclose when foods contain sesame, which joins eggs, soy, milk, wheat, crustacean shellfish, peanuts, tree nuts, and fish as the top allergens that must be disclosed on food labels. (Together, those nine allergens account for more than 90 percent of food-allergic reactions in the United States.) Finally! That’s big news for consumers with sesame allergies.

But the change means that food companies must make sure that any product that doesn’t have “sesame” in its ingredients doesn’t get cross-contaminated with sesame during processing. An unintended consequence: Some bread manufacturers are now adding sesame to products that didn’t previously contain it (and are updating the ingredients list to include sesame). That could lower the factory’s cost of cleaning production lines and equipment in between products and minimize the company’s risk of a recall if a product accidentally contains undeclared sesame from poorly cleaned equipment. 

Unfortunately, people with a sesame allergy may not realize that the ingredients in their “safe” bread have changed.

The bottom line: If you have a sesame allergy, don’t assume that a bread you’ve bought before is still safe to eat. Check the ingredients list every time.

To see the breads we found that meet our criteria for whole grains, calories, sodium, and ingredients, scroll down.