The whole truth and whole grain

Rye bread, porridge and rolls made with whole grain – all yummy and totally healthy. But exactly why are whole grain products so healthy? Scientists are trying to find out.

- Eat your rye bread, says your mother.

- Eat lots of whole grain daily – at least 75 grams, says the Danish Veterinary and Food Administration.

- Eat bread and porridge with benzoxazinoids, says the scientist.

What is it with all this good advice? What is the actual reason that whole grain food is so healthy and can anything be done to make bread, porridge and muesli even healthier?

Senior scientist Inge S. Fomsgaard from the Faculty of Agricultural Sciences at Aarhus University aims to find out in collaboration with her faculty colleagues and scientists from Copenhagen University Hospital. She is the leader of a large, new project that has received a grant of 13.3 mill. kroner from the Danish Council for Strategic Research. The project has the handy name BREAD AND BREAKFAST and aims to reveal the secrets behind the health benefits of whole grain products.

Vitamin, mineral, protein and fibre contents are not the only factors making whole grain products such as rye bread and muesli healthy. There is something more and senior scientist Inge S. Fomsgaard believes that she has a good idea about what that "more" could be. She and her colleagues have discovered that whole grain contains the bioactive compounds benzoxazinoids.

- We found that mature grains of rye, wheat and maize contain secondary metabolites belonging to the group of compounds called benzoxazinoids. These compounds have health beneficial effects. We believe that the compounds contribute to the marked healthy effects of whole grain products, says Inge S. Fomsgaard.

In laboratory experiments benzoxazinoids have been shown to have a positive effect on the immune status and can supposedly also reduce the risk of obesity, allergies, and bacterial infections.

Healthy food made healthier

Previous studies carried out at the Faculty of Agricultural Sciences have shown that raw whole cereal grains contain benzoxazinoids and that baking, for example, increases the content of these compounds or alters their composition via enzymatic or biosynthetic processes. The scientists will be taking a closer look at these processes in order to understand them better. The aim is to optimise the processes to increase the benzoxazinoid content.

- At the end of the day our goal is to make it possible to produce tasty bread and breakfast cereal products with a benzoxazinoid composition that has a positive contribution to our health and well-being, says Inge S. Fomsgaard.