Developing new types of wheat with enhanced health benefits

The consumption of wholegrain wheat is associated with a number of health benefits which may relate to the presence of a range of dietary fibre, phytochemical, vitamin and mineral components. Analysis of 150 bread wheat lines within the HEALTHGRAIN programme showed wide variation in content and composition of bioactive components within 150 bread wheat lines. Furthermore, in some cases (notably arabinoxylan in flour and tocols, sterols and alkylresorcinols in wholemeal) this variation was highly heritable and hence accessible to plant breeders. A number of tools are therefore being developed to facilitate the selection of these components in plant breeding programmes including molecular markers, biochemical kits and NIR calibrations.