Is Ezekiel Bread Healthy? Ezekiel 4:9 Nutrition Facts and Ingredients

Ezekiel bread nutrition facts: is it healthy?

Here is one 34 g slice, from the manufacturer's label as listed in USDA FoodData Central:

For bread, these are strong numbers. Per 100 g the bread has 14.7 g of protein and 8.8 g of fiber, and the label lists 0 g of sugar and 0 g of saturated fat. One slice gives 10% of the 50 g Daily Value for protein and 11% of the 28 g Daily Value for fiber. Its 75 mg of sodium is 3% of the 2,300 mg Daily Value, and the FDA counts 5% or less per serving as low. On our calculation the bread gets Nutri-Score A, which gives it 85 out of 100 for nutrition.

It is not a low-carb bread. A slice has 15 g of carbohydrate, of which 3 g is fiber, and 60% of its calories come from starch. With 0.22% sodium by weight, that meets the carbohydrate and salt marker researchers use for hyper-palatable food: more than 40% of calories from carbohydrate and at least 0.2% sodium (Fazzino et al., 2019). It is not calorie-dense, at 2.4 calories per gram, and only 6% of its calories come from fat, so the overeating part of the Truvi score is 66 out of 100.

Ezekiel 4:9 bread ingredients

There are 11 ingredients, in this order. The label calls the bread flourless: there is no flour on the list.

• Organic sprouted wheat. the main ingredient. Sprouted grains are whole grains that have started to grow.
• Filtered water..
• Organic sprouted barley, millet and spelt. three more sprouted grains.
• Organic malted barley. barley that has been sprouted and dried.
• Organic sprouted lentils and soybeans. two legumes, which add protein. Food for Life says the mix of grains and legumes gives a complete protein with all 9 essential amino acids.
• Yeast. makes the bread rise.
• Organic wheat gluten. the protein part of wheat, added as a separate ingredient. It helps a heavy whole grain dough rise and hold together.
• Sea salt. the last ingredient.

Food for Life lists wheat, soy and sesame as allergens for this bread. Check the pack before you buy.

Is Ezekiel bread ultra-processed?

Yes, and the reason is one ingredient. NOVA, the food-processing scale used in nutrition research, says that industrial breads made only from flour, water, salt and yeast are processed foods, group 3. Sprouted grains, legumes, water, yeast and salt fit in that group too.

Group 4, ultra-processed, is for foods that also contain substances rarely used in home cooking. The NOVA authors name protein sources such as hydrolysed proteins, soya protein isolate and gluten in that list (Monteiro et al., 2019). Ezekiel 4:9 has organic wheat gluten, so it is NOVA 4, and the processing part of the Truvi score is 30 out of 100 for that reason.

Everything else on the label is the kind of ingredient you could buy yourself: no emulsifiers, no flavors, no colors, no sugar and no oil. That is why the bread still scores well overall.

There is also a Low Sodium Ezekiel 4:9 bread. Its USDA record has the same ingredients without the sea salt and 0 mg of sodium, but it has the same wheat gluten, so it is NOVA 4 as well.

Why it scores 67 out of 100

The Truvi score (our method) is an opinion from the label. It combines three parts: processing (30 out of 100, NOVA 4 because of the added gluten), nutrition (85, Nutri-Score A, with high protein and high fiber) and how easy the food is to overeat (66, low in calories per gram but mostly starch with some salt). The nutrition is what lifts it. The breads below score higher because they have no added gluten.

Breads that score higher

These score higher on the same scale. None of them lists added gluten. The two closest to Ezekiel are the Manna sprouted wheat bread and the Great Grains multigrain loaf; the corn tortillas and tostadas are a different kind of bread.

• 

  Vista Hermosa Corn Tortillas

  Organic corn, water and lime, nothing else. Per 2 tortillas (48 g): 110 calories, 3 g protein and 3 g fiber.

  NOVA 1 · Photo: kiliweb, CC BY-SA 3.0

  91Excellent

• 

  Great Grains Bakery Multigrain with Flax Seeds Bread

  Water, whole wheat flour, enriched wheat flour and a 9-grain mix with flax seed. Per 45 g slice: 120 calories, 5 g protein, 5 g fiber and 190 mg sodium.

  NOVA 1 · Photo: macrofactor, CC BY-SA 3.0

  81Excellent

• 

  Charras Corn Tostada Baked Traditional

  Baked corn tostadas of white corn flour, salt and calcium hydroxide. Per 12 g tostada: 44 calories and 60 mg sodium.

  NOVA 1 · Photo: foodless, CC BY-SA 3.0

  78Excellent

• 

  Manna Bread

  Sprouted whole wheat, water, dates and cinnamon, with no yeast, salt or added gluten. Per 56 g serving: 150 calories, 8 g protein, 5 g fiber and 6 g sugar, all from the dates.

  NOVA 1 · Reported at Whole Foods · Photo: bredowmax, CC BY-SA 3.0

  77Excellent

• 

  TRADER JOE'S Three Seed Sourdough Bread

  A sourdough of unbleached wheat flour, water, sunflower, sesame and poppy seeds and sea salt. Made with white flour: 5.74 g of fiber per 100 g, against 8.8 g for Ezekiel.

  NOVA 1 · Photo: municorn-calorie-counter-app, CC BY-SA 3.0

  77Excellent

Full ingredient list and nutrition

Organic sprouted wheat, filtered water, organic sprouted barley, organic sprouted millet, organic malted barley, organic sprouted lentils, organic sprouted soybeans, organic sprouted spelt, yeast, organic wheat gluten, sea salt.

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