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What Nutrients Are in Breads & Cereals?

When standing bleary-eyed in front of your kitchen cupboard in the morning, consider the nutritional impact your breakfast will have. Both breads and cereals offer nutrients to help the body function, but cereal is often fortified with considerably more. For comparison purposes, the measurements of nutrients are the average for one slice of commercially prepared white bread (25 g), 1 oz. of whole-wheat bread made from a recipe (28 g), and 1 cup of plain corn flakes cereal (28 g).

  1. Vitamins

    • Serving the body's many functions by enabling enzymes to work, vitamins are found in both white and wheat bread but cereal trumps them both. A slice of white bread offers vitamin K (.8 mcg; 1-percent daily value), thiamin (0.1 mg), folate (27.8 mcg), riboflavin (0.1 mg), and niacin (1.1 mg). Whole-wheat bread has about 2.6 mcg vitamin K, 0.1 mg thiamin, 18.2 mcg folate, 0.1 mg riboflavin, and 1.1 mg niacin. Corn flakes provide 0.1 mcg vitamin K, 0.4 mg thiamin, 100 mcg folate, 0.4 mg riboflavin, and 5.0 mg niacin. In addition, corn flakes are a significant source of vitamins A, D, B6 and B12.

    Protein

    • Necessary to build and maintain cells, bones and tissues, protein is made up of amino acids. A slice of white bread contains about 1.9 g of protein, homemade whole-wheat bread contains 2.4 g, and a serving of cornflakes contains 1.93 g.

    Fatty Acids

    • Omega-3s are the power players of the fatty acids group. According to Dr. Frank Sacks of Harvard School of Public Health, Omega-3s can not only control blood clotting, but also help prevent heart disease and stroke, and treat depression. A slice of white bread has about 34.8 mg of total Omega-3 fatty acids, whole-wheat bread has 88.8 mg, and corn flakes have 0.3 mg.

    Minerals

    • Like vitamins, minerals also aid enzymes. In addition, these nutrients have "a major effect on osmosis and thus strongly affect the body's water balance," according to biologyreference.com. Bread provides a couple of key minerals: iron (0.9 mg in either white or whole-wheat) and potassium (white bread has 25.0 mg; whole-wheat has 87.9 mg), but corn flakes are chock-full of both nutrients, having 5.4 mg of iron and 32.8 mg of potassium.

    Carbohydrates

    • The energy of carbohydrates keeps your body going throughout the day, so it's no surprise they are abundant in foods we eat for breakfast. Carbs also help preserve cell structure. White bread offers 12.7 g of total carbohydrates and whole-wheat offers 11.6 g. Corn flakes have 24.3 g.

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