09 Feb 2016 --- The health-improving benefits of benzoxazinoids (BX), found in wheat and wholegrain products, have been discovered by Danish researchers.
Most people are aware that bread is healthy, but not many know that what makes bread a healthy food is not only vitamins, minerals, protein and fiber. Rye bread and other wholegrain foods contain a particular group of bioactive substances, benzoxazinoids, or BX for short.
Associate Professor Inge S. Fomsgaard from the Department of Agroecology at Aarhus University, who lead the study, told NutritionInsight: “We find it very interesting that our research showed that these compounds – naturally present in ryebread – have possible beneficial effects on human consumer’s health.”
Results were taken from the Bed and Breakfast project, where scientists began to investigate whether the beneficial substances were absorbed in the body. This was studied in rats, pigs and humans. “We started this research only five years ago when nobody else ever had reported the presence of these compounds in whole grain food products,” Fomsgaard added.
"We found that the BX compounds pass through the gut wall and circulate in the body in different chemical forms. By comparing the amount that was eaten with the amount circulating in the blood and excreted in urine, we could work out that some of the substances could be transported into some of the organs where they are able to do some good," clarified Fomsgaard.
The scientists also examined whether BX has an effect against allergies or whether they regulate the immune system. This part of the study was conducted by examining the blood cells in the laboratory. Although there was no apparent anti-allergic effect, there was an effect on the immune system: “We therefore still need confirmatory studies on the immune system related effects we have seen,” she explained to NutritionInsight. “In terms of other formerly reported in vitro effects of BXs as suppressors of cancer there is also a lot of work to be done before being able to confirm the effects in vivo.”
This research can have advantages for the food industry and shoppers alike: "Improving our knowledge about the function of benzoxazinoids can lead to the growing of crops that can be converted to food products and beverages with an optimum content and composition of these health-promoting compounds, so that consumers can increase their BX intake without having to eat large quantities of food," says Fomsgaard.
“However, if we manage to show the effects to an extent that can be approved by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), we think that wholegrain food products and beverages in the future can be produced with techniques that optimize the content of BXs and the health promoting effects can improve the consumers’ knowledge and benefit.”
by Kerina Tull
