Ready-to-eat cereals and bread with wheat aleurone 'good for health'

Washington, May 6 (ANI): A new study has offered evidence that consuming wheat aleurone as part of ready-to-eat cereals and bread is good for health.

Wheat aleurone is a novel wheat grain fraction with high levels of potentially health-promoting compounds.

New clinical trials with ready-to-eat cereals and bread containing wheat aleurone have been performed, and showed increased blood concentrations of tentatively beneficial compounds such as betaine, and decreased homocysteine and LDL-cholesterol which are both associated with heart disease risk.

Buhler produced aleurone fractions in their pilot production plants in Switzerland, which were then incorporated into ready-to-eat cereal by Buhler, and into bread rolls by Barilla in Italy. These products contained 9 g aleurone per portion.

The University of Ulster in Northern Ireland, UK conducted a 4-week randomised controlled clinical study with human subjects, who consumed two portions of bread rolls, and one portion of ready-to-eat cereal as part of their diets.

The study showed that, compared to control products, the consumption of the products, which provided 27 g aleurone per day, led to significant changes in a number of plasma biomarkers.

Betaine increased, and there were decreases in homocysteine and LDLcholesterol, which are both associated with heart disease risk.

Furthermore, there was a decrease in C-reactive protein (CRP), which is a biomarker for inflammation. (ANI)