An internatinal team of researchers successfully developed a new type of
wheat that contains ten times the amount of the fiber than normal wheat,
which helps improve gut health and also fights bowel cancer and Type 2
diabetes. The research team is composed of experts from Commonwealth
Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), Limagrain Céréales
Ingrédients, and the Grains Research and Development Corporation.

The researchers identified two particular enzymes, that when reduced in
wheat, increased the amylose content. "From there, we used a conventional
breeding approach, not GM techniques, and managed to increase the amylose
content of wheat grain from around 20 or 30 per cent to an unprecedented 85
per cent," Dr. Ahmed Regina of CSIRO said. "This was sufficient to increase
the level of resistant starch to more than 20 per cent of total starch in
the grain compared to less than one per cent in regular wheat." To date, a
small number of farmers in Idaho, Oregon, and Washington have harvested the
high-amylose wheat for the first time.

[www.csiro.au]
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