‘White flour is the healthiest its been in 200 years’, scientists find

A study comparing historic and modern wheat varieties has shown an increase in dietaryfibre and other features beneficial to human health.

This is contrary to concerns that the push for higher yields has made today's wheat less 'healthy' than oldervarieties and contradicts fears over the lack of genetic diversity in modern wheat.

Despite concerns over the declining genetic variation found across modern wheat types, there is no evidence that thehealth benefits of white flour from wheat grown in the UK 'have declined significantly over the past 200years," Dr AlisonLovegrove, lead author of the study, commented.

In fact, we found increasing trends in several components, notably the major form of dietary fibre. This is despite greatincreases in the yields of wheat grown over this period."

The changing face of wheat

Thirty-nine wheat varieties, spanning a period of 230 years, were grown side-by-side for three years at RothamstedResearch in Hertfordshire.

For the purposes of the analysis, these were split into three groups - nine which were bred in the years 1790-1916,before an understanding of genetics had been developed; 13 varieties came from 1935-1972, recognised as aperiod of increasing scientific understanding; and 17 cultivars that were bred using modern breeding techniquesbetween the years 1980 and 2012.

After milling the grain to white flour, the researchers found that the content of dietary fibre has increased steadilyover the past two centuries, with modern varieties containing, on average, about a third higher concentration ofthe major fibre component, the cell wall polysaccharide, arabinoxylan.


A study comparing historic and modern wheat varieties has shown an increase in dietaryfibre and other features beneficial to human health.

This is contrary to concerns that the push for higher yields has made today's wheat less 'healthy' than oldervarieties and contradicts fears over the lack of genetic diversity in modern wheat.

Despite concerns over the declining genetic variation found across modern wheat types, there is no evidence that thehealth benefits of white flour from wheat grown in the UK 'have declined significantly over the past 200years," Dr AlisonLovegrove, lead author of the study, commented.

In fact, we found increasing trends in several components, notably the major form of dietary fibre. This is despite greatincreases in the yields of wheat grown over this period."