Wheat products

New wheat with a healthy future

A new wheat variety promises significant human health benefits.

  • 25 January 2007 | Updated 12 January 2012

One of the most serious health issues for developed countries is the rise of diet-related conditions such as:

  • Type 2 diabetes
  • obesity
  • cardiovascular disease
  • colo-rectal cancers.

To help combat these diseases, a new wheat variety has been developed as part of the Advanced Genetics research in the Food Futures Flagship. The new wheat features:

  • a high proportion of amylose, a slowly digested form of resistant starch that can be used to formulate foods high in resistant starch and with a low glycaemic index (GI)
  • suitable food qualities for use in breads, cereals and other foods.

Resistant starch

Cereals contain several different kinds of starch in their grains, including resistant starch.

Resistant starch escapes digestion in the small intestine and passes into the colon, where it is broken down by the resident bacteria. As it breaks down, it releases short-chain fatty acids (SCFA) which:

  • can promote bowel health
  • are associated with a reduced risk of developing colo-rectal cancer.

Due to our diet of highly processed and refined foods, the average Australian consumes much less resistant starch than people in other countries.

Wheat high in resistant starch has the potential to improve the health across the entire Australian population.

The gene difference

The new wheat variety was created using CSIRO-developed RNAi gene silencing techniques.

The researchers suppressed two key genes used in creating starch, SBEIIa and SBEIIb. The suppression of the two genes produced a wheat variety with a significantly altered starch content, increasing the proportion of amylose in the starch from about 25 per cent to 70 per cent.

High-amylose products are a major source of resistant starch.

Due to our diet of highly processed and refined foods, the average Australian consumes much less resistant starch than people in other countries.

Feeding trials

An animal trial demonstrated that the new wheat provided definite health benefits.

Rats were fed either a diet of the high-amylose wheat or a normal wheat. Indicators of bowel health, such as the presence of short chain fatty acids, significantly improved in rats with a diet of the high-amylose wheat.

The feeding trial showed no change in growth rates in the rats between those fed the high amylose and those fed the normal wheats.

Future activities

With the crucial wheat genes identified, the researchers are developing breeding programs that will breed high-amylose wheat without requiring direct genetic manipulation.

A partnership  to develop and commercialise new high-amylose wheat varieties has been formed between:

  • CSIRO
  • Limagrain Céréales Ingrédients
  • the Grains Research and Development Corporation.

Who was involved

The Flagship’s research in this area is an example of the successful collaboration with its research partner, Biogemma, and the scientific expertise drawn from:

  • CSIRO Plant Industry
  • CSIRO Human Nutrition
  • Food Science Australia.

Find out more about our work in Increasing resistant starch in grains to improve bowel health.

  • Regina A, Bird A, Topping D, Bowden S, Freeman J, Barsby T, Kosar-Hashemi B, Li Z, Rahman S, Morell M. 2006. High-amylose wheat generated by RNA interference improves indices of large-bowel health in rats. In: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 103: 3546-3551.
  • Food Science Australia is a joint venture of CSIRO and the Victorian State Government.