Bread units

and Martina Feichter, medical editor and biologist

Mareike Müller is a freelance writer in the medical department and assistant doctor for neurosurgery in Düsseldorf. She studied human medicine in Magdeburg and gained a lot of practical medical experience during her stays abroad on four different continents.

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Martina Feichter studied biology with an elective subject pharmacy in Innsbruck and also immersed herself in the world of medicinal plants. From there it was not far to other medical topics that still captivate her to this day. She trained as a journalist at the Axel Springer Academy in Hamburg and has been working for since 2007 - first as an editor and since 2012 as a freelance writer.

More about the experts All content is checked by medical journalists.

The so-called bread units (BE) are an old, West German unit for calculating the carbohydrate content in food. In the meantime, it is being replaced in many cases by the internationally used "carbohydrate unit" (KHE). Bread units are still important today, especially for long-time diabetics who are treated with insulin. Here you will find a BE table for diabetics as well as tips for calculating bread units!

ICD codes for this disease: ICD codes are internationally recognized codes for medical diagnoses. They can be found, for example, in doctor's letters or on certificates of incapacity for work. E11E10E13O24H36E12E14

Bread units table

One bread unit stands for 12 grams of carbohydrates. But what amount of whole grain bread, potatoes & Co. does that correspond to? The answers to this can be found in the following bread unit table. For different foods, it indicates which portion size / quantity of a food corresponds to one bread unit. For example, you consume 1 BE with half a slice (approx. 30 grams) of wholemeal bread. With the help of this bread unit list, you can quickly compare different foods with regard to their carbohydrate content and exchange them for each other. If you don't feel like wholegrain bread, you can eat two slices (20 grams) of crispbread instead of half a slice of bread.

FOOD	1 BE corresponds to ...
Bread & pastries
Whole grain bread	½ slice	30 g
Mixed rye / wheat bread	½ slice	30 g
Bread roll	½ piece (small)	20 g
toast	1 piece (small)	20 g
crispbread	2 pieces	20 g
zwieback	2 pieces	15 g
Grain & Grain Products
Whole wheat flour	2 tbsp	20 g
Wheat / rye grain	2 tbsp	20 g
Millet grain	1 heaped tbsp	20 g
oatmeal	1 heaped tbsp	20 g
Wheat semolina / polenta	1 heaped tbsp	20 g
Grain of rice white + natural	2 level tbsp	15 g
cornflakes	3 tbsp	15 g
Pudding powder	1 heaped tbsp	15 g
Side dishes
Mashed potatoes	2 heaped tbsp	100 g
potatoes	1 medium size	80 g
Pasta, cooked	1 serving	60 g
potato pancakes	1-2 pieces	50 g
rice	2 heaped tbsp	50 g
Dumplings	½ dumplings	50 g
French fries	1 half serving	40 g
vegetables (up to 200g without BE crediting)
Cucumber, zucchini	-	-
tomato	-	-
Carrots	-	-
paprika	-	-
Mushrooms, chanterelles	-	-
Lettuce and lamb's lettuce	-	-
fruit
Raspberries	1 serving	210 g
Strawberries	1 bowl	190 g
Watermelon	1 slice	160 g
Peach (stone-free, medium-sized)	1 piece	150 g
Pomelo (grapefruit, without peel)	1 piece	130 g
Orange (medium)	1 piece	130 g
tangerine	2 pieces	120 g
Kiwi (medium)	1 piece	120 g
Pear (small)	1 piece	120 g
Honey / sugar melon	1 slice	110 g
Nectarine (stone-free, small)	1	100 g
mango	½ piece	90 g
Cherries (without stone)	8 pieces	90 g
Fig (medium)	1 piece	80 g
Grapes (medium)	10 pieces	70 g
Raisins, currants	17	20 g
Dried fruit, dried fruit (apple, date, plum)	2 pieces	20 g
Milk & dairy products
Whole, skimmed milk	1 glass	250 g
Sour milk, butter milk, whey	1 glass	250 g
Yogurt, kefir	1 glass	250 g
Condensed milk 4% fat	½ glass	105 g
beverages
Beer (Kölsch, Pils, Alt)	after eating	500 ml
Wine	after eating	250 ml
Sparkling wine, Prosecco (Piccolo)	after eating	200 ml
Carrot juice	1 glass	200 g
orange juice	½ glass	110 g
Apple, pear juice	½ glass	100 g
Currant / plum juice	½ glass	80 g
sweetener
honey	1 tbsp	12 g
Fructose	1 tbsp	12 g
glucose	1 tbsp	12 g
Snacks and sweets (varies depending on the manufacturer)
Diet chocolate (whole milk)	5 pieces	28 g
crisps	11 pieces	21 g
Pretzel Sticks	11 pieces	17 g
Shortbread	3 pieces	16 g
gummy bear	6 pieces	15 g

This food list for diabetics serves as a guide when it comes to adapting nutrition and insulin therapy to one another. This can prevent hypoglycaemia and hypoglycaemia.

Depending on the composition of the food, the bread units can vary - especially with ready-made products. In the case of packaged foods, you can use the labeled carbohydrate content to calculate the bread units. It works like this:

If the package says that 100 g of chocolate contains 45 g of carbohydrates, for example, divide 45 by 12. The result 3.75 corresponds to the MU contained in 100 g of chocolate. With time and experience, diabetics who take good care of their diet develop a sense of how many bread units are roughly in a food.

By the way: Nowadays, the amount of carbohydrate contained in a food is usually given in carbohydrate units (KHE or KE) instead of bread units. 1 carbohydrate corresponds to 10 grams of carbohydrates.

From bread units to insulin units

The body needs a certain amount of energy each day. It is essentially made up of the basal metabolic rate and the metabolic rate: The basal metabolic rate corresponds to the amount of energy that the body needs to maintain all vital functions in a state of rest. For physical activities (work, exercise, etc.) he needs an additional amount of energy: It corresponds to the performance expenditure.

In individual cases, the total daily energy requirement depends on several factors. These include age, gender, height and weight, and physical activity. For example, people in the 65+ age group who are not very physically active need around 1,700 kilocalories (women) or 2,100 kilocalories (men) per day. The different energy requirements of the sexes can be explained by the fact that men have a higher basal metabolic rate than women due to their generally higher muscle percentage.

A large part of the daily energy requirement should be covered by the consumption of carbohydrates (the rest via proteins and fats). For diabetics who require insulin, this means: You should / may consume a certain amount of bread units per day, divided into several small meals. Patients can find out how much this is in individual cases from their doctor or nutritionist.

Based on the amount of bread units that a planned meal contains, patients can then estimate the insulin units they need to inject. In this way, the expected increase in blood sugar after the meal can be "intercepted". The following applies: 1 BE raises the blood sugar level by around 40 mg / dl. One insulin unit lowers it by about 40 mg / dl. Accordingly, you need 1 insulin unit to neutralize the effect of 1 bread unit on blood sugar.

Bread units: sample menu

Here is an example of how the bread units can be distributed over the meals of a day. This menu refers to a woman who is about 1.65 m tall and consumes 20 bread units per day.

breakfast	2 slices of mixed wheat / rye or wholemeal bread 10 g butter 1-2 teaspoons of jam Coffee or tea, unsweetened with a little milk
Snack	1 serving of fruit (e.g. 1 apple, 1 pear, 1 orange, half a banana or 190 g strawberries)
Having lunch	100 g fish, pork or turkey 3 medium-sized potatoes plenty of vegetables (up to 200 g) 1 serving of fruit or a little yogurt Water or mineral water
Snack	½ piece of bread with cheese or 1 portion of fruit (see above)
Dinner	1-2 slices of bread Topping: raw ham, cheese or egg 10 g butter Salad (tomato, carrot, lettuce, cucumber, chicory and others up to 200g no BE crediting)
Late meal	1 cup "light" yoghurt 1 portion of fruit (see above)