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Sandwich chain Subway has come under fire in Ireland, where the Supreme Court ruled that its bread contains so much sugar that it cannot legally be classified as bread.
Regulations on the classification of food are strict in Ireland, where products classified as staples, including bread, are not subject to tax.
In New Zealand, Subway bread has a higher sugar content than some other supermarket breads, but it is still considered bread. The definition of the Ministry of Primary Industries of what constitutes a bread product is broad: as long as it is leavened with yeast and includes one or more cereal flours and water, it is bread.
Unlike Ireland, in New Zealand there are no maximum limits for ingredients such as sugar. Companies can put as much sugar as they want in their bread and it will still be classified as bread.
Charles Krupa / AP
A sandwich at a Subway restaurant in Ireland, where the Supreme Court has ruled that their bread is not bread.
Comparisons between Subway’s publicly available nutrition information and the breads available on supermarket shelves show that Subway is among the least healthy options.
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Nutritionist Nikki Hart said she found the sugar levels in Subway bread “quite alarming,” particularly in the context of an obesity epidemic.
A Subway spokesperson said their New Zealand bread had been classified under New Zealand’s nutritional guidelines as low in sugar.
Nikki hart
Nutritionist Nikki Hart found the sugar levels in Subway bread “alarming.”
Subway’s white bread has 4g of sugar, or 1 teaspoon, per 100g. The average white pita, by contrast, has 2.3g of sugar per 100g. A white muffin has 3.1 g.
Their malted rye has 3.3g of sugar per 100g, compared to 2.7g for traditional European rye bread from Yarrows, the company that makes Subway’s dough in New Zealand.
Although the Subway option has 461 mg of sodium per 100 g, Yarrows has 350 mg.
The most sugar-laden Subway bread is roasted garlic, which contains 6.4 g of sugar per 100 g and 1,120 mg of sodium, or about half the recommended daily intake for adults.
In both cases, that’s more than double the La Famiglia garlic bread, which provides 2.8g of sugar per 100g and 460mg of sodium.
Hart said carbohydrates were an important part of a healthy diet and bread could be a good way to consume them.
Brent Hofacker 123RF / Stuff
A Subway sandwich is likely to be less nutritious than a homemade one, particularly with whole wheat bread.
But those would have to be high-fiber versions, of which Subway offered very few.
“Low-fiber breads are not good for gut health,” Hart said.
He steered consumers toward whole wheat bread and pointed to brands like Vogel’s and Tip Top’s Goodness Grains as examples.
Tip Top’s 9-grain and seed toast, for example, has 2g of sugar, 410mg of sodium, and 5.5g of dietary fiber per 100g.
Low fiber breads are not good for gut health.
Subway does not offer whole grain or seedless breads, but their wheat bread does have 3.9 g of dietary fiber per 100 g.
“I look at all these [Subway] breads and they seem processed to me, ”Hart said. “They don’t seem nutrient dense.”
A sandwich from Subway is likely less healthy than a homemade sandwich, he said, although when it came to take-out options, there were much less healthy options than Subway, particularly fried foods.
Subway New Zealand’s healthiest bread option is its wrap, which has 2.4g of sugar, 370mg of sodium and 8.5g of dietary fiber per 100g that nutritionists like.
Hart pointed out that Subway’s was far from the only bread on the market that lacked nutritional value.
“Bread is a really valuable food group to have in your diet,” Hart said. “But people must realize that garlic pitas are high in saturated fat, and English muffins are white and do not contain whole grains.
“You have to look at the breads that you are consuming in all cases, not just when you are eating at a Subway restaurant.”
