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There is more to wheat than just flour for baking bread and coo"Food and health are tied together," Combs said. "Mainstreaming these products will be difficult," Marquart said. By Doug Rich Can wheat, long known as the "Staff of Life", be even better for us? Can wheat provide even more of the nutrients that we need for good health? The answer is yes, according to panelists at the wheat Quality Council annual meeting. wheat not only can provide the high quality flour needed for many of the products we consume every day but it can provide specific elements that are lacking in diets around the world. Ed Souza, research geneticist at the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Research Service Soft wheat Quality Laboratory in Wooster, Ohio, has been conducting research into low phytate wheat for improved mineral content of wheat flour. Souza and his colleagues have developed low-phytate breeding lines of wheat which have the ability to produce 25 percent more magnesium than commercial varieties. These new lines of wheat not only have more magnesium but the lower levels of phytic acid may increase the magnesium's bioavailability, according to Souza. "The healthy stuff is in the bran," Souza said. "The question is can we capture some value out of that." Flour is the main product from wheat but Souza said much of the fiber, vitamins, mineral and structural proteins are located in the bran, which is removed during processing. These new low phytic acid wheat lines have more essential minerals located in the inner germ than in the outer bran consequently flour made from these lines is more nutritional. Magnesium is not generally added to refined flours so these improved wheat lines could be a natural way to reinforce wheat flours. Magnesium deficiency is not a big problem in North America but it has been linked to the development of osteoporosis and Type 3 diabetes. In addition to magnesium low phytate wheat makes zinc and iron more available to people in whole-grain products. In baking quality tests done on low phytic acid (LPA) wheat Souza said there was no change in flour protein content, no change in loaf volume, and no change in water absorption. "We did take a hit on flour extraction," Souza said. "We also had more ash, but it is coming from a good place. However, the additional ash may be a barrier to adoption of these wheat lines." "It is an easy trait to breed for but should we," Souza said. High selenium wheat Selenium is an essential nutrient and there is evidence that it plays a role in preventing cancer. It is an important part of antioxidant enzymes that protect cells against the effects of free radicals that are produced during normal oxygen metabolism. Research has shown that death rates from lung, prostate, and colorectal cancers are lower in people with higher selenium blood levels. There is experimental evidence that selenium can reduce tumors at onset and reduce the risk of certain types of cancer in humans. Combs said the average American gets half of his selenium from wheat products. Americans are not selenium deficient but it takes a supranutritional level of selenium to achieve cancer reducing benefits. "A high level of intake is necessary because of the rapid secretion of selenium," Combs said. A blood selenium level of 120 is needed to reduce cancer risks. In Finland researchers added selenium to their fertilizer and doubled the selenium blood counts in their country, according to Combs. Another way to increase selenium in wheat is to plant it in soil that is high in selenium like the soils in northern Nebraska and the Dakotas which have very high levels of selenium. It might be possible to segregate wheat grown in these regions and market it as high selenium wheat in a niche market. "Segregate it all the way to the mill," Combs said. "It would only add pennies to the cost of a loaf of bread and a couple of slices of this bread would reduce cancer risks." "Food and health are tied together," Combs said. "This would create opportunities for economic development." Biorefinery Researchers at Oklahoma State University are taking a biorefinery approach to healthier wheat products. Dr. Nurhan Dunford, assistant professor at Oklahoma State University, saidto save the wheat flour what is was intended and use the wheat germ, bran, and straw to make other beneficial products. Only about 72 percent of hard red winter wheat grain is utilized for human consumption. wheat germ alone can provide three times as much protein, seven times as much oil, and 15 times as much sugar as wheat flour. "We can use wheat to produce a number of beneficial products," Dunford said. wheat can be used to produce food, feed, commodity products, ethanol, specialty chemicals, and nutriceuticals. The objective of their research at Oklahoma State University is to develop a wheat biorefinery system. Dunford defined a biorefinery as--a factory consisting of a collection of processes which takes agricultural inputs from the surrounding area, and produces a wide range of products which are specifically targeted at different market uses and are refined to market specifications. Dunford said wheat is an excellent crop for the biorefinery concept and she and her research group have been working on this project for the last five years. This research is looking at producing nutriceutical products that will provide health benefits beyond basic nutrition. Nutriceuticals are natural, bioactive chemical compounds that have health benefits. Compounds that are being targeted by this research are policosanols and phytosterols. Policosanol is the generic term for long-chain primary aliphatic saturated alcohols. It is currently extracted from sugar cane, yams, and beeswax. Policosanols have been found to reduce total serum cholesterol and low density lipoprotein-cholesterol in some people. Dunford is working to develop an extraction process for these chemical compounds. At this time there are three extraction processes in use--hot solvent extraction, pressurized solvent extraction, and supercritical fluid extraction. "We want to establish wheat as a commercial source of policosanol," Dunford said. Collaborative research Research into healthier wheat began in 1994 when General Mills looked at whole grain products, Len Marquart, Associate Professor of Food Science and Nutrition at the University of Minnesota, said. Today there is still some confusion about the benefits of whole grains or the definition of whole grain as it appears on food products. Independent research into healthy wheat or wheat products is going on across the country. Marquart said we need to move independent research into collaborative research on whole grain "We are lacking in biological science to enhance health attributes of wheat," Marquart said. "We need to leverage research dollars to sustain long-term growth." He said this could be accomplished with a Grains Research Institute The purpose of this institute would be to enhance the health of the population and increase the consumption of grain and grain products. Identity preserved market systems will have to be developed to get these new healthy wheat products to consumers. Breeders, growers, millers, processors, and nutritionists will have to work together to accomplish this task, Marquart said. The industry will have to decide if consumers are ready to pay more for these products and if it is worth breeding new lines for these particular traits, Marquart said. "Mainstreaming these products will be difficult," Marquart said. Doug Rich can be reached by phone at 785-749-5304 or by email at richhpj@aol.com. B 1 3/5/07 4 Star NE Date: 3/1/07
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