A team of researchers at the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), Australia, has developed a new variety of fibre-rich wheat that has the potential to help fight Type 2 diabetes and bowel cancer.
This discovery is considerably significant for India, which is often labelled the ‘diabetic capital of the world’, with over 50 million people suffering from the disease.
Researchers have stated that the new wheat variety is rich in amylose. The amount of resistant starch, a type of dietary fibre, in products made from high-amylose wheat was 10 times more than those made from regular wheat. Resistant starch is known to improve digestive health, protect against the genetic damage that precedes bowel cancer, and help combat Type 2 diabetes.
Normally, food is digested in the small intestine. This starch reaches the large intestine and disintegrates there, which reduces the speed with which glucose reaches the blood.