{"id":259648,"date":"2026-01-23T11:14:08","date_gmt":"2026-01-23T11:14:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/259648\/"},"modified":"2026-01-23T11:14:08","modified_gmt":"2026-01-23T11:14:08","slug":"is-your-daily-bread-ultra-processed-nutritionists-name-the-healthy-option-you-need-to-try","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/259648\/","title":{"rendered":"Is your daily bread ultra-processed? Nutritionists name the healthy option you need to try"},"content":{"rendered":"

Bread<\/a> shouldn\u2019t be controversial. It is the safety net when dinner escapes you. It is toast when you are hungover, and what you feed a child when every other request is met with a scream. It\u2019s one of the most universal foods in Britain. And it\u2019s also one of the most ultra-processed items in our weekly shop. <\/p>\n

\u201cBread should just be four ingredients or less, but typically, supermarket breads have about 19 ingredients,\u201d says GP and TV doctor, Rupy Aujla, better known as Dr Rupy from The Doctor\u2019s Kitchen. \u201cA lot of people don\u2019t realise how processed breads are.\u201d<\/p>\n

Instead of artisanal flour, water and a pinch of salt, a quick look at the label on the back of a supermarket loaf, and you get gums and stabilisers and emulsifiers, all working hard to make something last for a fortnight. <\/p>\n

Whether or not that matters for health, says registered nutritionist Rob Hobson, author of The Low Appetite Cookbook, comes down to overall diet quality. \u201cBread itself isn\u2019t the issue; it\u2019s a staple for many people, but loaves that are low in fibre and made mainly from refined flour offer fewer nutritional benefits.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dr Federica Amati, head of nutrition at Zoe, says: \u201cMany [breads] are made with refined flour, added sugars, emulsifiers and preservatives, which do have implications for our health.\u201d But she stresses that bread \u201ccan absolutely be part of a healthy, balanced diet\u201d, and that the smarter move is \u201copting for genuinely wholegrain loaves with short, recognisable ingredient lists\u201d rather than swearing off sandwiches forever.<\/p>\n

Aujla, a big believer in rye bread, recently launched \u201cRye<\/a> January\u201d, a new campaign with organic brand Biona that asks Brits to swap their usual bread for traditional rye. Unlike the abstinence movements that have made January miserable for the past decade, this isn\u2019t about restriction. Rye January \u201cis all about a simple swap that\u2019s more about addition,\u201d he says. \u201cMost people associate January with Dry Jan, which I think is the worst time to try and restrict something that you know will give some people joy or peace of mind and stuff.\u201d <\/p>\n

The problem with bread isn\u2019t just the additives themselves but our complete lack of awareness about them, despite the deluge of daily headlines. \u201cI think it will be surprising to a lot of people that food<\/a> manufacturers are putting these ingredients into their products because it makes it cheaper and a lot more shelf-stable,\u201d says Aujla. \u201cCommercially, it\u2019s the right decision, but from a health point of view, it\u2019s the worst thing we could be doing.\u201d<\/p>\n

The bread aisle, it seems, has become a stealth UPF zone and most of us have either not noticed or assumed it was fine because it said \u201cbrown\u201d on the packet. <\/p>\n

\"GP<\/p>\n

open image in gallery<\/p>\n

GP and TV doctor Rupy Aujla, who says tiny dietary swaps can meaningfully improve health (Faith Mason)<\/p>\n

Anjula refers to it as healthwashing. Words like \u201cmalted\u201d or \u201cmultiseed\u201d conjure images of fibre<\/a>-rich, wholesome loaves that are \u201chealthy, high in fibre and good for your gut\u201d. The labels rarely stand up to scrutiny. \u201cWhat I really want people to be aware of is the fibre per 100 grams.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some rye bread offers 10 grams of fibre, which means that a couple of slices provide a third of your daily fibre requirements. Typical supermarket bread is far less than that.<\/p>\n

\u201cFibre is one of the most underconsumed nutrients in the UK,\u201d says Hobson, adding that 96 per cent of us don\u2019t meet the daily 30g target. \u201cFibre supports fullness, steadier blood glucose responses and cholesterol regulation, as well as reducing the risk of heart disease, type 2 diabetes and colorectal cancer.\u201d<\/p>\n

The best rule of thumb when shopping for bread is to ignore everything on the front and turn the packet around. \u201cIt\u2019s not infallible, but looking for minimal ingredients that you actually recognise and that you might find in a home store cupboard is a really good strategy for deprocessing your diet,\u201d says Anjula.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s where it gets suddenly very 2026. We\u2019ve all spent the last year hearing about GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic <\/a>and Wegovy, which suppress appetite. And the other interesting thing about rye is what it does to GLP-1. <\/p>\n

\u201cBecause it\u2019s higher in fibre, it\u2019s going to be better at releasing GLP-1 naturally from your digestive tract,\u201d Aujla explains. \u201cThat GLP-1, which is a peptide that\u2019s getting a lot of attention right now, suppresses your appetite so it can reduce hunger and improve weight control more naturally, just by adding more fibre into your diet.\u201d<\/p>\n

For many on-the-fence consumers, that line alone may be more motivating than any lecture about additives. No injections necessary. <\/p>\n

\u201cRye is particularly interesting because it contains a unique mix of fibres that our gut microbes love to ferment,\u201d says Amati, which may help with appetite regulation and steadier glucose responses.<\/p>\n

It can also reduce cholesterol. \u201cIt\u2019s been shown to improve markers of cardiovascular health, in that it can reduce certain markers of cholesterol, one of which is LDL [more commonly known as the \u201cbad\u201d one].\u201d <\/p>\n

\"Rye<\/p>\n

open image in gallery<\/p>\n

Rye shines in open sandwiches, where its texture and tang hold their own (Biona)<\/p>\n

One obstacle for some is that rye bread is not as cheap as a supermarket white loaf. But Aujla suggests we rethink the concept of value. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I have a white load of bread, which I haven\u2019t had for a number of years now, I could have four or five slices and still not feel satisfied afterwards,\u201d he says adding that satiety is the missing part of the value conversation: what\u2019s the point of cheap food if you have to eat twice as much and then raid the biscuit tin anyway?<\/p>\n

\u201cTry having two or three slices of rye bread; even though it\u2019s a lot smaller in terms of quantity, you\u2019ll feel full, and that\u2019s because of the fibre.\u201d <\/p>\n

January should be about what you could add to your diet that perhaps you haven\u2019t enjoyed or experienced before, that\u2019s actually going to give you tangible benefits. And rye bread is one of those really simple swaps that you can make that actually has a tangible impact<\/p>\n

Dr Rupy Aujla<\/p>\n

By that metric, expensive bread may actually be cheaper in the long run: less volume, more nutrition, fewer crashes, fewer snacks. For those priced out entirely, he insists it\u2019s accessible to make at home. \u201cThere are loads of recipes that you can make that will be far better for you than buying supermarket ones.\u201d<\/p>\n

Aujla\u2019s interest in UPFs began during his early medical career, after experiencing a heart condition that improved with dietary changes.<\/p>\n

He made small changes \u2013 fewer processed staples, better ingredients, asking questions about what went into things. \u201cThat\u2019s when I began to see changes in my own health condition, which I ultimately reversed using a diet and lifestyle approach.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now, he sees the tipping point arriving younger and younger. \u201cThe likelihood of someone having type two diabetes, obesity alongside other health issues, hormonal disruption, increased incidence of things like endometriosis, PCOS, metabolic syndrome\u2026 can be put down in large part to our diets and the addition of ultra-processed foods into the typical supermarket shop,\u201d he says. <\/p>\n

\u201cIf we can radically shift how we consume food and how we shop for food, we can have a huge impact on the health of the nation.\u201d <\/p>\n

For more information about Rye January visit biona.co.uk<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Bread shouldn\u2019t be controversial. It is the safety net when dinner escapes you. It is toast when you…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":259649,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[103,61,60,446],"class_list":{"0":"post-259648","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nutrition","8":"tag-health","9":"tag-ie","10":"tag-ireland","11":"tag-nutrition"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/259648","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=259648"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/259648\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/259649"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=259648"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=259648"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=259648"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}