Rye more filling than wheat

WHOLEGRAIN bread is good and good for you, as most people know. But it is not only the fibre-rich bran that is healthful. On the contrary, research at the Lund University Faculty of Engineering shows that bread baked with white rye flour, which is flour made from the inner, white part of the rye kernel, leads to better insulin and blood sugar levels compared with wheat bread with rye bran. White rye flour thus leads to much better values than both regular wheat flour and rye bran. At the same time, much of the bread that is sold in stores today in most countries is in fact baked with wheat flour and bran from various grains. The great difference between white rye and white wheat surprises the researchers. "Precisely what it is that makes rye lead to a stable blood sugar curve is as yet unknown. But we are getting closer and closer to an answer. There are several different types of rye, and all not all types have the same effect, which means that some of them can be omitted from future studies. The rye flour that is sold in stores is often a mixture of different types," says Liza Ros閚, a doctoral candidate in Applied Nutrition and Food Chemistry at the Lund University Faculty of Engineering, who has led the study. The research is part of the EU project "Healthgrain", in which researchers study how wholemeal products can be used to prevent diseases including type 2 diabetes and heart and vascular diseases.

White rye flour leads to much better values than both regular wheat flour and wheat flour with rye bran, much to the surprise of researchers

Porridge or bread made from whole grain rye - where all the parts of the grain are included - is more beneficial. "The bran includes many healthful fibres, vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants. This also helps give a feeling of satiety and helps lower blood sugar responses over the long term. On the other hand, we did not see such good results regarding blood sugar and insulin directly after the meal," Ros閚 said. In meal tests the researchers also found that individuals who ate boiled rye kernels for breakfast were fuller and ate significantly less for lunch, more precisely 16% less in energy intake, compared with those who ate bread made from white flour. They also found that both bread and hot cereal made with white rye and wholegrain rye are more filling than white wheat bread. The most effective form was rye porridges. "It is probably the water in the porridge that increases the feeling of satiety. But the water has to be mixed into the product. If you drink the same amount of water with rye bread, the results are not as good," she explains. Low insulin response The original objective of Ros閚's research was to try to determine the reasons that wholegrain products are so beneficial, in that they have been shown to protect against cardiovascular diseases and certain types of cancer. There is also strong evidence that whole grains can prevent type 2 diabetes and insulin resistance. "Since rye has been shown to yield low insulin responses, I started with that. A high insulin response can lead to insulin resistance in the body, that is, that the body has a hard time responding to insulin. Insulin resistance can result in high blood sugar, high blood pressure, and bad blood fats, which in turn increase the risk of age-related diabetes and cardiovascular diseases," said Ros閚. In an ongoing third study, the researchers are investigating different kinds of rye. There are only a few studies of how wholegrain forms of various cereal grains affect our health, so there is a great need for more detailed studies of the issue. Enhanced knowledge in this field creates a base for the development of a new generation of custom-designed wholegrain products that can counteract different types of diseases associated with our prosperityAir Max 95 Invigor Print