Milling & Baking News - June 21, 2016 - 37

Canada study: Wheat makeup
little changed since 1860
SASKATOON, SASK. - Ravindra
Chibbar, Ph.D., has published research
challenging claims that obesity and a
host of serious diseases, including diabetes, are caused by alterations in the
protein content of modern wheat that
have caused the grain to be harmful
for human consumption.
His big contribution to the wheat
wars: modern Canadian wheat is nutritionally similar to ancient wheat. In
the scientific community at least, that
finding appeared to undercut popular
assertions that today's wheat was different - and much riskier to humans
- than its early precursors.
Dr. Chibbar, professor and Canada
Research Chair in molecular biology
for crop at the University of Saskatchewan, has since turned his research
to the question of carbohydrates in
wheat. Preliminary data suggest these
components, like proteins such as gluten, have changed very little in wheat
in the last 150 years. Early indications
involving mineral content also pointed to only miniscule changes in Canadian grain since 1860, Dr. Chibbar told
Milling & Baking News.
"If we want to see whether wheat
has really changed, we need to study
all the components that make the
grain," he said.
Dr. Chibbar's published research
on the protein concentration in Canadian western red spring, the dominant
wheat variety grown in Canada, involved raising 36 wheat cultivars with
different years of registration, beginning in 1860 and at subsequent intervals every few years.
He used seeds from a seed bank to
obtain samples grown at intervals of
every few years from 1860 into the 21st
century. The plants were grown under
identical conditions in his field laboratory for at least two years. He and
his team of scientists replicated this
methodology in testing for changes in
wheat carbohydrates, using an identical set of cultivars as was used to test
protein, but grown in 2013.
"There are small variations ... like
what we first saw in the proteins," he
said.
Dr. Chibbar said he hopes to send
the results of the carbohydrate study
out for publication within the next
four to five months.
Dr. Chibbar's research on proteins
and gluten content in wheat, funded
by the Canadian government, showed
bakingbusiness.com / world-grain.com

changes of less than 1% have occurred
since 1860, all as a result of selective
breeding techniques that have led to a
bigger kernel size, a shorter straw and
more nutrients being concentrated in
the head of the wheat plant.
He is careful to say current wheat
cultivars are similar to the early variety, not identical, despite only minimal differences.
"Identical is a very strict term," he
said. "That is why I used the word
'similar,' which is a more scientifically

Education and Research

difficult. Selective breeding is a much
better strategy."
"We want enough wheat so that everybody can consume it," Dr. Chibbar
said. "But we also want wheat that can
impart special health benefits. Selective breeding would be able to make
those changes."
He said assertions that wheat is addictive were easy to refute. Peptides
produced during the digestion of
wheat bind to opioid recepters in the
human brain, which some anti-wheat
promoters have said indicates wheat
is a food substance many people are
powerless to stop eating. Noting that
a protein used in plant photosynthesis

'We also want wheat that can impart special
health benefits. Selective breeding would be
able to make those changes.'
- Ravindra Chibbar,
Canada Research Chair

correct word because nothing can be
identical over so many years."
Some of the concerns about whether wheat is healthy rests on the notion
the wheat genome has been altered
by scientists into being an addictive
"frankenwheat" that leads, among
other things, to uncontrolled weight
gain and other negative health outcomes.
The changes that have occurred in
the last century and a half have been
the result of selective breeding, not actual genetic modification, he noted. As
of yet, there is no bioengineered wheat
variety on the market anywhere. Dr.
Chibbar, in fact, contended selective
breeding, not genetic modification,
was the best way to improve wheat.
Bioengineering for "herbicide resistance is easy," he said. "Disease resistance is easy. But to get the changes in
quality that I specialize in, it is kind of

also binds to human opioid receptors,
Dr. Chibbar said any green vegetable
should therefore be addictive, clearly
a false conclusion.
While Dr. Chibbar noted his research
had its inception with the work of his
close colleague, Pierre Hucl, Ph.D., as
early as 1989 - well before the current
wheat debates - he offered perspective about why some self-help professionals were eager to exploit the fears
of individuals worried about their
weight and their health.
"People are looking for a magic
bullet," Dr. Chibbar said. "You gain
weight pound by pound. You didn't
become overweight overnight. You
cannot lose 30 lbs or 50 lbs overnight.
Removing gluten makes you lose so
many other important components of
your diet. My approach is everything
in moderation. If you overdo anything, you will have bad effects." MBN
Milling & Baking News XJune 21, 2016 / 37

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Milling & Baking News - June 21, 2016

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