Filling the fibre gap: functional and metabolic potential of high amylose wheat (FoodBioSystems DTP)

Wheat is the most widely grown food crop and the most traded cereal in the world today. It is therefore a perfect foundation for raising the nutritional quality of the food supply to help improve overall health of communities worldwide. Selective breeding of commercial wheat has produces a variety which is very high in resistant starch, a type of dietary fibre which has documented beneficial metabolic effects for glucose and lipid metabolism. Dietary fibre is the nearest thing we have to a super-food with the known beneficial effects on the gut microbiome, gastrointestinal cancers and metabolic disease, but intakes fall well below recommended levels. The question is, can this new type of wheat can fill this fibre-gap?

This high-amylose wheat clearly has a great potential to improve human health if it enters the food chain, but at the moment there are several challenges which need to be overcome such as understanding how to incorporate this high insoluble-fibre wheat into food staples in the diet such as bread, biscuits and pastry, and further define the metabolic effects of consumption in humans.

Using a combination of cutting-edge food technology methods and dietary interventions in human volunteers, this project aims to investigate and maximise the incorporation of this wheat into different food products; evaluate the sensory qualities and consumer attitudes to this novel wheat variety and quantitate the glucose lowering effects of consumption in a dietary intervention trial.

About the FoodBioSystems DTP

The FoodBioSystems Doctoral Training Partnership (DTP) brings together six university partners: University of Reading, Cranfield University, University of Surrey, Queen’s University Belfast, Aberystwyth University, and Brunel University London. The Partnership’s vision is to develop the next generation of bioscientists with in-depth knowledge and technical expertise of food systems and biological processes across the Agri-Food system from pre-farm to post-fork. They will become the urgently needed experts - able to transform the food value chain and address challenges of sustainability, efficacy, authenticity and safety in food production systems whilst delivering better nutrition and concomitant health benefits for society. The DTP is currently advertising 36 projects. From these, it is expected 24 studentships will be awarded to the strongest application to start their studies in October 2022.

This project would be suitable for a student with a degree in food science and nutrition, with a keen interest in learning new laboratory and clinical techniques. We would expect the successful candidate to have already some laboratory food science experience.

This studentship is available for UK and international students.

IELTS requirements: The standard requirement is for a score of 6.5 or above (or equivalent) with 6.0 in each individual category, in an IELTS Academic test taken in the last 2 years. 

Department of Nutritional Sciences.

References

Belobrajdic et al, High-Amylose Wheat Lowers the Postprandial Glycemic Response to Bread in Healthy Adults: A Randomized Controlled Crossover Trial, The Journal of Nutrition, 149, 8, Pages 1335–1345, https://doi.org/10.1093/jn/nxz067