Additional File 1: Additional Methods and Results for the Study on Health Healthy Bread

Additional file 1: Additional Methods and Results for the Study on Health Healthy Bread

This file provides supplementary details on methods and results.

Additional Methods

The main text details the approach taken to the nutrient databases (in EuroFIR) and determining the prices of the white breads and seed/nut containing breads. But additional country-specific details follow:

Canada: For nutrients we used “Bread, white commercial”. Of note was that the folate includes “synthetic form”. For prices we used the largest supermarket chain “Loblaws” ( “Old Mill White”.

Czech Republic: Used “bread, wheat, white” for nutrients. For prices we used Tesco in Prague as it was in English language. The white bread selected was “Tesco Bread Consumer with Cumin”.

Denmark: For nutrients we used “Sigtebrød” and a “high seed” bread “Hvedebrød, store, med fedtrigefrø” (it had the highest level of PUFA). For price we used IRMA ( for the white bread “IrmashverdagSandwichbrød” and for the seed bread used seed covered buns: “Reinh van HauenGræskarrugboller, 2 stk”.

Finland: The “white bread with mixed grain” and “multigrain bread with mixed seeds” (the one highest in PUFA) were used for nutrients. For prices we used selected “OululainenReilu Wheat bran bread slices” for the white bread. For seed bread we used “Fazer Alku Jyväpala 6 pcs”which contained sunflower, linseed, and pumpkin seeds and stated “contains 17% seeds”.

France: We used “bread-sandwich loaf” for nutrients. Some nutrient values were not used as they just had imprecise ranges e.g., “<20 mcg” etc). For prices there was difficulty identifying an online supermarket so we used the lower range of the price from the pricing website “Numbeo.com” for a “loaf of fresh white bread – 500g” in Paris.

Greece: We used “bread, rolls, white” for nutrients and we converted kcal to kJ.We used the an online store ( and “ECONOMY ΨΩΜΙ ΓΙΑ ΤΟΣΤ ΣΤΑΡΕΝΙΟ 28 ΦΕΤΕΣ 680ΓΡ” for the bread price.

Iceland: We used “bread, white” (“BRAUÐ, pylsubrauð”) and “bread with seeds” (“BRAUÐ, sólkjarnabrauð”) for nutrients (it had the highest level of PUFA). For prices there was difficulty identifying an online supermarket so we used the lower range of the price from a “loaf of fresh white bread – 500g”.No price for the high seed bread could be identified.

Italy: We used “bread, white, plain” for nutrients. Total sugars were estimated from “soluble carbohydrates”.For price we used “pane morbido di granoduro” at (in Rome).

Netherlands: We used “Bread blue band Goede start white bread” and also “Bread corn with sunflower seeds” (it had the highest level of PUFA). Some nutrient terms in the database had to betranslated into English using Google Translate. Prices from the largest supermarket chain (Albert Heijn), used“AH Zaansesnijder wit heel” for the white bread. For the seed bread we searched using Dutch words for sunflower (zonnebloem), nuts, walnut and found a sunflower seed bread: “ConsenzaZonnebloem-pitten brood”.

New Zealand: For nutrients we used a white bread “Bread, white wheat, sliced, prepacked, composite” and a linseed containing bread: “Bread, mixed grain & seed, sliced, prepacked, Soy & Linseed, Burgen & Vogel’s, lower North Island”. For prices we used “Homebrand white bread toast sliced” and “Vogels soy & linseed (toast)” from Countdown Online (

Slovakia: We used “wheat bread white” for nutrients. For prices we used with the bread being “PenamToastovyChliebKrajanysvetly”.

Sweden: We used “bread white w cheese fibre c 3%” for nutrients. For prices we used “JatteFranska, Pagen”.

Switzerland: We used “white bread” for nutrients. The highest seed bread for PUFA was “bread with walnuts”. For prices we used “Classic toast and sandwich” and “Pain gourmet” with many seeds (

United Kingdom: We used “white bread average” for nutrients, but for missing values (PUFA, SFA and fibre), the “white bread sliced” was used. For prices we used “mysupermarket.co.uk” and “Tesco Everyday Value Thick Sliced White Bread”.

United States: We used “bread, wheat, white” for nutrients. For prices we used a Walmart store in the New York area (North Bergen) and for “Sara Lee Soft and Smooth white sandwich bread. Ounces were converted to grams. Kcal were converted to kJ.

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Additional Results

Table A: Comparisons of the commercial white breads from 15 countries (nutrients and costs, all values per 100 g unless indicated otherwise)

Nutrient / cost component / Canada / Czech Republic / Den-mark / Finland / France / Greece / Iceland / Italy / Nether-lands / New Zea-land / Slovakia / Swe-den / Switzer-land / USA / UK
Item code (nutrient database) if shown / 4066 / 0198 / 0538 / 32460 / 0585 / 100154 / 2277 / 823, v5.1 / 18967 / 11-099
Cost (relevant to food security)
Local currency / CAD / CZK / DKK / EUR / EUR / EUR / ISK / EUR / EUR / NZD / EUR / SEK / CHF / USD / GBP
Cost per loaf (local currency) / 2.59 / 21.9 / 14.5 / 2.52 / 1.00 / 1.76 / 250 / 0.99 / 1.19 / 1.00 / 1.19 / 29.9 / 2.30 / 1.98 / 0.40
Size of loaf (g) / 675 / 800 / 900 / 500 / 500 / 680 / 500 / 400 / 800 / 600 / 500 / 1200 / 620 / 680 / 800
Cost per 100 g of loaf – local currency / 0.38 / 2.74 / 1.61 / 0.50 / 0.20 / 0.26 / 50.00 / 0.25 / 0.15 / 0.17 / 0.24 / 2.49 / 0.37 / 0.29 / 0.05
International dollars per unit local currency (PPP) / 0.79 / 0.08 / 0.13 / 1.06 / 1.21 / 1.60 / 0.007 / 1.32 / 1.21 / 0.68 / 1.66 / 0.11 / 0.73 / 1.00 / 1.41
Cost per 100 g of loaf – International dollars (I$) / 0.30 / 0.21 / 0.21 / 0.54 / 0.24 / 0.41 / 0.36 / 0.33 / 0.18 / 0.11 / 0.39 / 0.28 / 0.27 / 0.29 / 0.07
Cost per 1000 kJ of food energy (I$) / 0.18 / 0.16 / 0.18 / 0.22 / 0.10 / 0.24 / 0.11 / 0.16 / 0.07 / 0.19 / 0.29 / 0.16 / 0.20 / 0.06
Eight heart health relevant characteristics
Alpha-linolenic acid (ALA) / 0.3 / 0.54 / 0.11 / 0.01 / 0.03 / 0.09 / 0.05 / 0.12
Total polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) (g) / 1.4 / 0.67 / 1.54 / 2.6 / 1.1 / 0.5 / 1.66 / 0.12 / 0.5 / 0.65 / 0.65 / 0.44 / 1 / 0.52
Total saturated fatty acids (SFA) (g) / 0.7 / 0.40 / 1 / 1.14 / 1.1 / 0.32 / 0.05 / 0.2 / 0.31 / 0.69 / 0.2 / 0.6 / 0.29
Ratio PUFA/SFA / 2.0 / 3.9 / 2.6 / 1.0 / 0.5 / 5.2 / 2.4 / 2.5 / 2.1 / 0.9 / 2.2 / 1.7 / 1.8
Sodium (mg) / 681 / 510 / 453 / 373 / 498 / 535 / 380 / 665 / 320 / 460 / 510 / 468 / 681 / 478 / 520
Potassium (mg) / 100 / 115 / 136 / 389 / 153 / 161 / 139 / 161 / 300 / 130 / 115 / 123.2 / 94.6 / 127 / 110
Ratio of potassium to sodium / 0.15 / 0.23 / 0.30 / 1.04 / 0.31 / 0.30 / 0.37 / 0.24 / 0.94 / 0.28 / 0.23 / 0.26 / 0.14 / 0.27 / 0.21
Dietary fiber (g) / 2.4 / 4.3 / 3.9 / 5.1 / 2.96 / 2 / 2.6 / 2.8 / 6.8 / 3.6 / 4.3 / 3.11 / 0.53 / 9.2 / 2.5
Other micronutrients
Calcium (mg) / 151 / 97 / 44 / 45.9 / 231 / 105 / 62 / 64 / 29 / 85 / 97 / 109.4 / 14.5 / 684 / 110
Folate (mcg) / 111 / 41.6 / 40.2 / 31 / 29 / 22 / 28 / 21 / 40.5 / 17 / 162 / 29
Iodide (mcg) / - / 2.6 / 6 / 1.3 / 38.5 / 0.5 / 5 / 0.81 / - / 6
Iron (mg) / 3.7 / 1.5 / 1.19 / 2.1 / 2.63 / 0.7 / 1.7 / 2.6 / 1 / 1.5 / 0.84 / 1.13 / 4.9 / 1.6
Selenium (mcg) / 17.3 / 2.18 / 6.8 / 4.7 / 4 / 9 / 1.8 / 1.48 / 16.1 / 28
Zinc (mg) / 0.7 / 0.65 / 1.3 / 1.2 / 0.6 / 0.8 / 1.4 / 0.7 / 0.63 / 0.84 / 0.75 / 1 / 0.6
Selected other macronutrients
Dietary energy (kJ) / 1113 / 1030 / 1054 / 1230 / 1190 / 1176 / 1180 / 928 / 1040 / 1,024 / 1,149 / 1,030 / 996 / 1002
Protein (g) / 7.6 / 8.3 / 7.2 / 8.3 / 8.2 / 9.1 / 10 / 8.1 / 8.8 / 9.1 / 8.3 / 11.48 / 8.48 / 10.7 / 8.4
Sugars (total) (g) / 4.3 / 1.6 / 1.9 / 5.4 / 7.5 / 0.6 / 4.3 / 0.23 / 5 / 2.6

Table B: Comparisons of the seed/nut breads from the six countries with nutrient database data on such breads (nutrients and costs, all values per 100 g unless indicated otherwise)

Nutrient / cost component / Denmark / Finland / Iceland / Netherlands / New Zealand / Switzerland
Code for item (nutrient database) if shown / 1463 / 33677 / 0591 / 2707 / Linseed bread / 831, v5.1 (walnut)
Cost (relevant to food security)
Local currency / DKK / EUR / ISK / EUR / NZD / CHF
Cost per loaf (local currency) / 30 / 4.29 / 4.49 / 4.99 / 3.50
Size of loaf (g) / 270 / 480 / 750 / 700 / 400
Cost per 100 g of loaf – local currency / 11.11 / 0.89 / 0.60 / 0.71 / 0.88
International dollars per $1 local currency (PPP) / 0.13 / 1.06 / 0.007 / 1.21 / 0.68 / 0.73
Cost per 100 g of loaf – International dollars (I$) / 1.46 / 0.95 / 0.73 / 0.49 / 0.64
Cost per 1000 kJ of food energy (I$) / 0.34 / 0.38 / 0.42 / 0.33 / 0.18
Eight heart health relevant characteristics
Alpha-linolenic acid (ALA) / 1.19 / 0.09 / 1.70
Total polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) (g) / 2.8 / 5.8 / 0.3 / 5.5 / 3.53 / 10
Total saturated fatty acids (SFA) (g) / 0.49 / 1.2 / 2 / 1.3 / 0.79 / 3.9
Ratio PUFA/SFA / 5.7 / 4.8 / 0.2 / 4.2 / 4.5 / 2.6
Sodium (mg) / 463 / 474 / 464 / 428 / 414 / 485
Potassium (mg) / 192 / 291 / 177 / 205 / 293 / 235
Ratio of potassium to sodium / 0.41 / 0.61 / 0.38 / 0.48 / 0.71 / 0.48
Dietary fiber (g) / 4.1 / 3.3 / 5.3 / 5 / 6.6 / 5.47
Other micronutrients
Calcium (mg) / 44.4 / 40 / 36 / 39 / 121 / 31.9
Folate (mcg) / 42 / 39.9 / 58 / 55.8 / 292 / 49
Iodide (mcg) / 19.3 / 3.6 / 2 / 61.5 / 7.0 / 2.89
Iron (mg) / 1.34 / 3.2 / 1.28 / 1.6 / 1.8 / 2.95
Selenium (mcg) / 5.2 / 8 / 4.1 / 10 / 3.8
Zinc (mg) / 1.06 / 2.1 / 0.9 / 1.42 / 1.3 / 2.03
Selected other macronutrients
Dietary energy (kJ) / 1168 / 1188 / 1291 / 1,024 / 1,410
Protein (g) / 9.3 / 11 / 10.1 / 11.8 / 13.4 / 8.9
Sugars (total) (g) / 3.4 / 0.4 / 2.2 / 3.8 / 1.45

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