The Best Breads in the Grocery Store

Look for whole-grain breads with the fewest ingredients possible.

Photo: sergeyryzhov/Getty Images
Photo: sergeyryzhov/Getty Images
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The Best Breads in the Grocery Store

Photo: sergeyryzhov/Getty Images
Photo: sergeyryzhov/Getty Images

It takes just four ingredients to create bread: flour, yeast, water, and salt. After a little kneading and some time in the oven, they transform into a hearty dietary staple that can add texture to your breakfast or structure to your sandwich. But the type of flour, plus additional ingredients, can make or break bread's nutritional value.

What makes bread healthy?
Healthy bread starts with flour that comes from whole grains, such as whole wheat, oats, brown rice, rye, or barley.

Whole grains are seeds. Each is made up of an outer shell (bran), a tiny embryo (germ) that can turn into a plant, and a starchy food supply (endosperm) for the embryo. Together, these three parts of the whole grain are typically loaded with B vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and fiber.

Eating whole grains is linked to better health. "There are good data to show that eating whole grains is associated with lower weight and reduced rates of heart disease and early death," says registered dietitian Kathy McManus, director of the Department of Nutrition at Harvard-affiliated Brigham and Women's Hospital. She also points out that eating fiber may help lower cholesterol, control blood sugar, and improve digestion.

Iffy ingredients
Many ingredients can reduce the nutritional value of bread.

The main culprit is flour from refined grains, such as white flour. These grains have been processed to remove the bran and germ for finer, smoother flour that lasts longer on the shelf. But the body digests refined grains quickly, which can cause your blood sugar to spike. Frequent blood sugar spikes increase the risk for developing diabetes.

In addition to refined grains, many breads contain added sugars such as brown sugar, cane sugar, high-fructose corn syrup, honey, or molasses. Examples are raisin breads, sweet breads, or "honey wheat" breads. These breads may contain some healthy ingredients, but they also can add up to 6 grams of sugar and 25 grams of carbohydrate per slice.

Other ingredients deemed safe for consumption by the FDA may make you feel uncomfortable once you know they're in bread — like caramel coloring and preservatives to help bread rise higher, retain moisture, or last longer. Two additives — potassium bromate and azodicarbonamide — are associated with cancer in studies of lab animals, but the chemicals are still allowed and used in many bread products in the United States.

In search of healthy bread
You'll have to do some investigating to find bread that's on the healthier side.

Step 1: Don't pay attention to the marketing promises on the front of the package. "It could say 12 grains,' or multigrain,' or made with whole grains.' That doesn't mean it's a whole-grain product. It could still contain refined grains," McManus warns.

Step 2: Read the ingredients list. "If the words whole grain' aren't first on the ingredients list, then it's not whole-grain," McManus says.

Step 3: Avoid breads with lots of ingredients, especially breads with
- unbleached enriched wheat flour (refined grains that are fortified)
- anything that ends with "ose" (indicating sugar molecules such as dextrose, fructose, glucose, lactose, maltose, and sucrose)
- ingredients you may not recognize, such as monoglycerides and diglycerides (emulsifiers that help ingredients combine together) or butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA — a preservative associated with cancer in lab animals).

Slice guidelines
After reading the ingredients list, look at the Nutrition Facts label. The best breads in the grocery store have a particular nutrition profile per serving. For bread, one serving is one slice, which is about 1 ounce (28 grams). "Per slice, you want no more than 80 calories, less than 100 milligrams of sodium, at least 3 grams of fiber, less than 3 grams of sugar (and zero added sugar), and 15 grams of carbohydrates," McManus recommends. "Don't get any breads containing saturated fat."

Some examples of breads that fill the bill or come close: Ezekiel 4:9 Flax Sprouted Whole Grain Bread and Alvarado Street Bakery Sprouted 100% Whole Wheat Bread.

How many slices can you have? That depends on what else you eat. "The goal is four servings of whole grains per day. You could achieve that with two slices of whole-grain toast at breakfast and a nice whole-grain sandwich at lunch. Or you could have a couple of slices of bread at lunch and half a cup of cooked whole grains—like quinoa, farro, oats, or bulgur—at breakfast and dinner," McManus says. "The important thing is to find whole grains you enjoy that work for you and your family. The right bread is often an easy way to get the whole grains you need."

(Harvard Health Letter)



SpaceX Starship Explodes During Routine Test

Flames rise as a SpaceX rocket explodes in Brownsville, Texas, US, June 18, 2025, in this screengrab obtained from a social media video. TheRocketFuture via X/via REUTERS
Flames rise as a SpaceX rocket explodes in Brownsville, Texas, US, June 18, 2025, in this screengrab obtained from a social media video. TheRocketFuture via X/via REUTERS
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SpaceX Starship Explodes During Routine Test

Flames rise as a SpaceX rocket explodes in Brownsville, Texas, US, June 18, 2025, in this screengrab obtained from a social media video. TheRocketFuture via X/via REUTERS
Flames rise as a SpaceX rocket explodes in Brownsville, Texas, US, June 18, 2025, in this screengrab obtained from a social media video. TheRocketFuture via X/via REUTERS

One of Elon Musk's SpaceX Starships exploded during a routine test late Wednesday in Texas, law enforcement said, in the latest setback to the billionaire's dream of turning humanity into an interplanetary species.

The Starship 36 suffered "catastrophic failure and exploded" at the Starbase launch facility shortly after 11:00 pm (0400 GMT Thursday), a Facebook post by the Cameron County authorities said, according to AFP.

A video shared with the post showed the megarocket attached to the launch arm, and then a flash and a towering, fiery explosion.

Musk's Space X said the rocket was preparing for the tenth flight test when it "experienced a major anomaly while on a test stand at Starbase," without elaborating on the nature of the complication.

"A safety clear area around the site was maintained throughout the operation and all personnel are safe and accounted for," Space X added on social media.

"There are no hazards to residents in surrounding communities, and we ask that individuals do not attempt to approach the area while safing operations continue."

The Starship was not scheduled for launch on Wednesday evening when the explosion occurred during a "routine static fire test," according to the Cameron County authorities.

During a static fire, part of the procedures preceding a launch, the Starship's Super Heavy booster would be anchored to the ground to prevent it from lifting off during the test-firing.

Starbase on the south Texas coast, near the border with Mexico, is the headquarters for Musk's space project.

Standing 403 feet (123 meters) tall, Starship is the world's largest and most powerful rocket and central to Musk's long-term vision of colonizing Mars.

The Starship is billed as a fully reusable rocket with a payload capacity of up to 150 metric tons.

The latest setback follows an explosion of a prototype Starship over the Indian Ocean in late May.

The biggest and most powerful launch vehicle ever built had lifted off on May 27 from the Starbase facility, but the first-stage Super Heavy booster blew up instead of executing its planned splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico.

The previous two outings also ended poorly, with the upper stage disintegrating over the Caribbean.

But the failures will likely do little to dent Musk's spacefaring ambitions.

SpaceX has been betting that its "fail fast, learn fast" ethos, which has helped it dominate commercial spaceflight, will eventually pay off.

The company has caught the Super Heavy booster in the launch tower's giant robotic arms three times -- a daring engineering feat it sees as key to rapid reusability and slashing costs.

NASA is also increasingly reliant on SpaceX, whose Dragon spacecraft is vital for ferrying astronauts to and from the International Space Station.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in early May approved an increase in annual Starship rocket launches from five to 25, stating that the increased frequency would not adversely impact the environment.

The decision overruled objections from conservation groups who had warned the expansion could endanger sea turtles and shorebirds.