The Hidden Danger in Bread (It’s NOT Gluten)
Dr. Berg’s Healthy Keto and Intermittent Fasting Podcast
Dr. Eric Berg
4.7 • 1.7K Ratings
🗓️ 18 March 2026
⏱️ 10 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The real danger in bread isn’t the gluten. In this video, we’ll explain why bread can be unhealthy, how it affects insulin and blood sugar, and what you can eat instead if you decide to stop eating bread.
0:00 Introduction: Why bread is unhealthy
1:14 The bread blood sugar spike
1:50 The gluten myth
2:54 Bread dangers
6:37 Is whole wheat bread healthy?
7:40 Gluten allergies
8:22 Modern wheat dangers
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Bread is mostly starch, which is a chain of glucose molecules. Even if the label says zero grams of sugar, that starch is quickly broken down into sugar in your bloodstream.
Wheat is in many of the foods people eat regularly: pizza, cereal, granola bars, and more. The average American consumes wheat almost every day.
One of the biggest problems with bread is the blood sugar spike. In some cases, bread can spike your blood sugar even more than table sugar, despite being labeled as having zero sugar.
Gluten-free bread isn’t always a healthier option. Many gluten-free breads are made with potato starch, rice flour, tapioca starch, or cornstarch instead of wheat flour. These ingredients can spike blood sugar just as much as, if not more than, regular sugar. The starch in bread doesn’t just affect blood sugar. It may also contribute to higher LDL cholesterol, fatty liver, and glycation.
When bread spikes your blood sugar, insulin is released to bring it down. But where does the excess sugar go? Much of it gets converted into stored fat in the liver and around the belly. Over time, repeated blood sugar spikes and high insulin levels can lead to insulin resistance.
While a small percentage of people have a true gluten allergy or sensitivity, for many others, the real issue with bread is the starch. Modern wheat has also been heavily hybridized and engineered to contain higher levels of gluten.
Dr. Eric Berg DC Bio:
Dr. Berg, age 60, is a chiropractor who specializes in Healthy Ketosis & Intermittent Fasting. He is the Director of Dr. Berg Nutritionals and author of the best-selling book The Healthy Keto Plan. He no longer practices, but focuses on health education through social media.
Disclaimer:
Dr. Eric Berg received his Doctor of Chiropractic degree from Palmer College of Chiropractic in 1988. His use of “doctor” or “Dr.” in relation to himself solely refers to that degree. Dr. Berg is a licensed chiropractor in Virginia, California, and Louisiana, but he no longer practices chiropractic in any state and does not see patients, so he can focus on educating people as a full-time activity, yet he maintains an active license. This video is for general informational purposes only. It should not be used to self-diagnose, and it is not a substitute for a medical exam, cure, treatment, diagnosis, prescription, or recommendation. It does not create a doctor-patient relationship between Dr. Berg and you. You should not make any change in your health regimen or diet before first consulting a physician and obtaining a medical exam, diagnosis, and recommendation. Always seek the advice of a physician or other qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | The real danger in bread is not the gluten. I want you to take a piece of bread, put it in your |
| 0:06.4 | mouth, start chewing it, don't swallow it, and keep chewing for about 30 seconds. What you're |
| 0:12.2 | going to notice is all of a sudden it's going to start tasting sweet. And it's not a coincidence. |
| 0:18.3 | Your body is releasing an enzyme that's breaking down the starch into sugar. |
| 0:24.7 | And this is the part of bread that almost no one talks about. Bread is mostly starch. Now, what is |
| 0:30.5 | starch? Starch is a string of glucose molecules on a chain. So it's really a different type of sugar. |
| 0:38.3 | And all you have to do is break down this chain, |
| 0:41.3 | and it's going to turn into sugar very fast. |
| 0:44.3 | Even though on the label, it'll say zero grams of sugar. |
| 0:50.3 | So it's hidden sugar. |
| 0:51.3 | And also, wheat is in almost everything people eat. It's in the |
| 0:55.7 | morning toast. It's in the lunch wraps. It's in the pasta dinner. It's in the crackers people |
| 0:59.9 | snack on. It's in the cereals that the kids are eating. It's on that pizza that you had on Friday. |
| 1:05.8 | The so-called healthy granola bars have wheat in them. An average American consumes wheat nearly every single day. |
| 1:13.6 | One of the biggest problems with bread is the blood sugar spike. If we take a look on the |
| 1:17.6 | glycemic index for bread, it's 75. Then the question is, what is the glycemic index of sugar? |
| 1:25.6 | 75. It's virtually the same. And the glycemic index is how fast that carbohydrate |
| 1:31.0 | spikes the blood sugar. And on some charts, bread is actually even higher than sugar. So in other |
| 1:38.5 | words, depending on what chart you're using, when you eat bread, it can actually create more |
| 1:42.9 | of a blood sugar spike than actual sugar. |
| 1:45.9 | Yet everyone else is focused on this gluten thing right here. |
| 1:49.0 | That's the biggest focus. |
... |
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