Mining diversity in cereal (wheat) fibre to improve the nutritional quality of bread

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Mining diversity in cereal (wheat) fibre to improve the nutritional quality of bread: Wheat is the major food crop grown in the UK and makes an important dietary contribution, especially with regards fibre. Consumption of fibre is linked to decreased risk of cardiovascular diseases, certain types of cancer, (such as colon and breast) and type-2-diabetes. The mechanism by which fibre acts is not clear - although there is evidence that its effect is to change the viscosity of the material in the stomach and gut, slowing absorption of nutrient into the body. Whilst there have been drives to increase consumption of wholegrain and wholemeal products, many consumers still prefer the texture and appearance of white bread. Though the EU HEALTHGRAIN project RRes and IFR have identified wheat lines with very different AX contents, solubilities and branching patterns. This project will exploit this diversity to investigate how AX structure may alter the glycaemic index and response of bread by using a suite of sophisticated, novel, spectroscopic (NMR, fourier transformed infrared spectroscopy) and imaging tools (atomic force microscopy) to discover whether the cell wall composition of different lines determines their responsiveness to the upper gastrointestinal tract environment and how these are affected by thermal treatments. We will work with the University of Birmingham to develop a novel combined stomach and duodenal in-vitro model based on existing IFR gastric and Birmingham duodenal models. These will be used to study how model fluids (incorporating AX fractions and commercial AX ingredients) and the baked breads behave through simulated digestive processes. This will be undertaken in collaboration with LFR and Plant Biosciences Ltd.

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