How Many Calories in Bread?

Bread is made from flour, water and yeast. Brown, or whole-wheat, bread is a healthy choice because all the parts of the wheat kernel are retained, providing more nutrients than white bread and still maintaining its low-fat properties.

How Many Calories in a Brown Bread Roll?

There are 74 calories in a 1-oz. or 28-g whole wheat dinner roll. The total lipid, or fat, content is 1.32 g. A brown bread roll has a total saturated fat content of .23 g.

One large bread roll contains vitamins E, K and many B vitamins including thiamine, riboflavin, niacin, B 6 and folate. Brown bread rolls contain 30 mg of calcium, 76 mg of potassium and 112 mg of sodium per roll. The iron content of a bread roll is 0.68 mg; other trace minerals include zinc, copper, manganese and 13.8 mcg of selenium.

Each whole-wheat bread roll supplies 2.1 g fiber, important for the function of your digestive system. The American Heart Association advises that a diet high in soluble fiber may lower cholesterol and help reduce the risk of diabetes and colon and rectal cancer.

How Many Calories Are in White Bread?

A key sandwich ingredient, white bread provides an assortment of nutrients in an affordable, readily available form. As a grain product made using refined flour, white bread derives most of its calories from the starch form of carbohydrates.

One slice of commercially prepared white bread contains 66 calories, while a single cup of the cubed bread provides up to 93 calories. A homemade loaf of white bread made using 2 percent milk typically yields a slice containing 120 calories.

A single slice of commercially prepared white bread provides 1.91 g of protein, less than 1 g of fat, just over 12.5 g of carbohydrates, 0.6 g dietary fiber, 1.08 g of sugar and 10.15 g of starch. A similarly sized serving of homemade white bread gives 3.32 g of protein, 2.39 g of fat, 20.83 g of carbohydrates and less than 1 g of dietary fiber.

Commercially prepared white bread contains 38 mg of calcium, while homemade white bread contains 24 mg of this mineral. Additional nutrients in enriched white bread include iron, niacin, riboflavin and thiamin.

Calories for Whole Grain Bread

The Harvard School of Public Health recommends choosing whole grain bread instead of refined white bread. Whole grain bread has not undergone a refining process.

Unlike whole grain bread, refined breads go through a milling process that removes their bran and germ, stripping them of fiber and nutrients. While refined, enriched breads have the nutrients added back in, they still don't have as many nutrients and fiber as whole grain bread. Whole grain breads are marked with the Whole Grain stamp, which features a sheaf of grain on a gold background.

A slice of whole wheat bread has 69 calories and supplies 3.6 grams protein and 1.9 grams fiber, according to MayoClinic.com. A slice of commercially prepared white bread has 66 calories, 1.9 grams protein and 0.6 grams fiber. Whole wheat bread is the better choice because it contains more fiber and nutrients.

Women should get three 1-oz. servings of grains per day, or the equivalent. Men should get three or four 1-oz. servings, depending on their age. One regular slice of bread counts as a 1-oz. equivalent. The USDA suggests that at least one-half of the grains you eat per day be whole grains.