SEARCH HEALTH STUDIES

Buckwheat Enhanced Gluten-free Bread a Healthier Gluten-free Alternative

Researches from the Polish Academy of Sciences recently published a study suggesting substituting some or all of the corn starch in many traditional gluten-free bread recipes with buckwheat flour. In addition to providing higher levels of antioxidants, B vitamins, magnesium, phosphorus and potassium, the study indicated that swapping 40% of the corn starch for buckwheat flour also increased its “overall sensory quality” when compared to the gluten-free bread used in the control. Although recipes were tested with anywhere from 10-40% buckwheat flour, the conclusion clearly points to the 40% buckwheat flour results as having the most nutritional benefits for celiac sufferers.
International Journal of Food Science and Technology, October 2010; 45(10):1993–2000. Epub August 25, 2010.

Black Rice Bran Protects Against Inflammation

S.P. Choi and colleagues from Ajou University in Suwon, South Korea tested both black rice bran and brown rice bran for their effectiveness in protecting against skin inflammation. In mouse tests, they found that the black rice bran did suppress dermatitis, but the brown rice bran did not. The scientists suggest that black rice may be a “useful therapeutic agent for the treatment and prevention of diseases associated with chronic inflammation.”
Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry,  Sept 22, 2010; 58(18):10007-15.

Whole Grains Vary in Positive Heart Disease Benefits

Penny Kris-Etherton and Kristin Harris at Penn State’s Department of Nutrition Sciences, reviewed research on whole grains and coronary heart disease risk in an effort to explain mixed results from one study to another. They concluded that, “due to the varying nutrition compositions of different whole grains, each could potentially affect CHD risk via different mechanisms.” Whole Grains high in soluble fiber tend to decrease LDL cholesterol and improve insulin response, for example, while those high in insoluble fiber may have a prebiotic effect, while lowering glucose and blood pressure. While intervention studies have not proven the observered epidemiological link between whole grains and weight loss, visceral fat loss has been shown. Differences in processing of whole grains may also affect their heart-healthy potential.
Current Atherosclerosis Reports, September 7, 2010 [Epub ahead of print]

Whole Grains Lower CRP, Improve Reproductive Outcomes

Scientists at the National Institutes of Health, Louisiana State, and SUNY Buffalo worked together to follow 259 healthy pre-menopausal women for two years, to see if whole grain consumption lowered levels of C-reactive protein. They found that women who ate even small amounts of whole grains – up to one serving a day – had, on average, 11.5% lower concentration of hs-CRP in their blood. Women eating a full serving (16g of a 100% whole grain food, in this study) or more of whole grain had, on average, 12.3% lower CRP levels. Since earlier research has found that higher CRP levels are associated with adverse reproductive outcomes, the researchers postulate that whole grain consumption has the potential to improve the health of young women of child-bearing age.
Journal of Nutrition. September 2010; 140(9):1669-1676. doi: 10.3945/jn.110.124164

Indigestible Carbs May Explain Diabetes Benefits of Whole Grains

Some carbohydrates found especially in whole grains resist digestion and instead are processed by the body through fermentation in the lower colon. This process creates short chain fatty acids (SCFAs) that show an intriguing range of health benefits. Researchers at Lund University in Sweden carried out an intervention study with 5 healthy women and 10 healthy men, offering each of them 8 different cereal-based dinners in random order on separate evenings. In the mornings, all subjects ate identical breakfasts, after which their glucose response and their blood concentration of butyrate, a SCFA, were measured. Whole grain evening meals high in indigestible carbohydrates, such as barley kernels, resulted in higher butyrate concentrations and lower glucose response than refined-grain meals such as white wheat bread. The researchers hypothesize that this may explain why whole grain is protective against type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease.
Journal of Nutrition, September 1, 2010 [Epub ahead of print]

Black Rice Rivals Blueberries as Antioxidant Source

Scientists working with Zhimin Xu at the Louisiana State University Agricultural Center have found that black rice (sometimes called “forbidden rice”) contains health-promoting antioxidants called anthocyanins, at levels similar to those found in blueberries and blackberries.
Presentation at the National Meeting of the American Chemical Society, Boston MA. August 26, 2010.

Amaranth Offers Advantages for Gluten Free Baking

Many gluten-free products are low in nutrients, and offer technological challenges to food processors. Scientists at the Research Center for Food and Development in Hermosillo, Mexico, experimented with amaranth, a food with a long culinary tradition in Mexico. They found that bread formulation with 60-70% popped amaranth flour and 30-40% raw amaranth flour produced loaves with an even crumb and higher volume than most gluten-free breads, and that cookies formulated with 20% popped amaranth flour and 13% whole grain popped amaranth also worked out well. Both foods offered acceptible dough functionality without some of the additives often needed in GF foods, and the final foods had a very high nutritional value.
Plant Foods for Human Nutrition, August 24, 2010 [Epub ahead of print]

Changing Chinese Attitudes to Brown Rice

One in ten Chinese adults is estimated to have diabetes, with another 16% on the verge of developing it. With a rate of increase in diabetes faster than in Europe or the U.S., Chinese nutrition experts seeking to promote whole grain brown rice in China carried out a pilot study with 32 Shanghai residents, to learn about attitudes to brown rice. Only a quarter of the group had ever tried brown rice, and almost all (30 of 32) ate white rice daily. While most participants had an inferior view of brown rice before the project, after tasting it and learning of its health benefits, their views became more positive, and 27 of the 32 expressed a willingness to participate in a future long-term brown rice intervention study.
Journal of the American Dietetic Association. August 2010; 110(8): 1216-21.

Sprouting (Malting) Millet Makes Some Minerals More Bioavailable

In India and some other countries, sprouted (malted) grains are commonly used as weaning foods for infants and as easily-digested foods for the elderly and infirm.  A study at the Central Food Technological Research Institute in Mysore, India, measured the changes caused by malting finger millet, wheat and barley. They found that malting millet increased the bioaccessibility of iron (> 300%) and manganese (17%), and calcium (“marginally”), while reducing bioaccessibility of zinc and making no difference in copper. The effects of malting on different minerals varied widely by grain.
Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry. 14 July 2010; 58(13):8100-3.

Black Rice Bran High in Antioxidants

A team of researchers at Cornell University, including WGC Scientific Advisor Rui Hai Liu, analyzed the phenolic content and antioxidant activity of 12 diverse varieties of black rice, and found that antioxidants were about six times higher in black rice than in common brown/white rice. The black rice bran had higher content of phenolics, flavonoids and anthocyanins.
Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, July 14, 2010; 58 (13): 7580-7.

Switch to Brown Rice Reduces Diabetes Risk in Men and Women

Scientists at the Harvard School of Public Health followed 39,765 men and 157,463 women as part of the Health Professionals Follow-up Study and the Nurses’ Health Study I and II. They found that those eating several servings of white rice per week had a higher risk of Type 2 diabetes and that those eating 2 or more servings of brown rice had a lower risk. They estimate that replacing about two servings a week of white rice with the same amount of brown rice would lower diabetes risk 16%.
Archives of Internal Medicine. June 14, 2010; 170 (11): 96-9.

All Millet Varieties Show High Antioxidant Activity

At the Memorial University of Newfoundland in Canada, a team of biochemists analyzed the antioxidant activity and phenolic content of several varieties of millet: kodo, finger, foxtail, proso, pearl, and little millets. Kodo millet showed the highest phenolic content, and proso millet the least. All varieties showed high antioxidant activity, in both soluble and bound fractions.
Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, 9 June 2010; 58(11):6706-14.

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