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The debate over whether or not white bread is bad for one's health might finally come to an end. According to a new study, researchers discovered that white bread can make people fat. The team stated that for people who want to lose weight, they should replace white bread with whole grain options.

"The issue is that white bread is made with highly refined flour which is rapidly absorbed as sugar," said nutritional expert Professor Miguel Martinez-Gonzalez of the University of Navarra reported by the Independent. "Essentially it is equivalent to a high consumption of sugar. The problem is similar to what we see with soft drinks, their sugars are rapidly transformed into fat an organism. A sensible recommendation would be to switch to wholegrain bread, especially for people who usually consume a lot of bread."

For this study, the research team recruited more than 9,200 participants who were undergraduates at a Spanish University. The researchers monitored the participants' eating habits and weight over an average of five years. The researchers found that people who ate both white and whole grain breads did not have an increased risk of gaining weight.

People who ate two or more portions of just white bread per day had a 40 percent greater risk of becoming overweight or obese when compared to people who ate less than one portion of white bread per week. Two or more portions were equivalent to about three or four slices of bread. The team did not find any connections between eating whole grains and risk of becoming overweight or obese.

"Consumption of white bread [of] two portions per day or more showed a significant direct association with the risk of becoming overweight or obese," the researchers concluded according to Philly.

The study was presented at the European Congress on Obesity.