Australian growers to have access to high fibre wheat

The high-fibre, conventionally bred wheat was developed over 20 years by Arista Cereals, a joint venture between CSIRO and the European farmer-led breeding giant Limagrain.

The wheat has been commercialised in the US and is attracting interest from food manufacturers who are using it in a range of applications from tortillas to pasta.

Arista is currently looking for partners to licence the technology and build the market in Australia.

Lindsay Adler, CSIRO executive manager of business development, said the wheat and white flour from the wheat have ten times the digestible fibre of conventional wheat and once cooked into final foods, three to five times more.

The fibre is in the form of resistant starch, a fermentable fibre that is resistant to digestion in the small intestine.

It is common to have a spike in blood sugars after eating normal starchy food because of this digestion in the small intestine.

Instead this resistant starch is processed by the large intestine and is known to have a prebiotic effect, improving digestive health, protecting against the genetic damage that precedes bowel cancer and at the same time, helping combat Type 2 diabetes.

"Fermentable fibre is something we are not getting enough of in western diets and using this wheat is an easy, natural way of boosting people's intake," Mr Adler said.

"It's all natural, it is fibre from the field, not fibre from the factory, there are no additions to food labelling required, which is something consumers are becoming more conscious of."

In terms of its end-use characteristics, Mr Adler said the variety had no alteration in protein levels due to the high fibre levels and can be used as any other wheat in food products.

He said it performed the same in baking as normal wheat.

"There is a difference in water solubility but you would expect to adapt recipes for different varieties anyway."

Mr Adler said from the Australian perspective the key would be putting the material breeding the high fibre trait into a modern varieties and Arista has partnered with AGT to deliver this.

He said the initial lines had been developed by CSIRO using material from the Chara and Sunstate cultivars.

"We've got AGT working on the breeding now and by introducing the genetics into modern varieties we will minimise the yield penalty for growers," Mr Adler said.

Mr Adler said while there was a yield penalty in growing the high fibre wheat compared to standard wheat lines, growers could expect a premium for growing the wheat.

On the retail front he expected a big tick from consumers.

"People are looking at healthier foods and this is an easy way to get more fermentable fibre that so many of us are lacking into diets without altering what you eat at all."

Arista Cereals has fought hard to have Its patents over the wheat recognised.

Chief executive at Arista Cereals Eric Vaschalde said the patents had been challenged in the US, but Arista pushed back and all litigations were settled in 2019 under favourable terms to Arista.

The patents also apply to Australia, Canada, Japan and the EU among other jurisdictions.

Mr Adler said Australian growers would grow the crop under contract as part of a closed-loop production system where the harvested grain is purchased by the contractor for sale at premium value.

In terms of the science behind the development of the variety Mr Adler said the high fibre wheat line contained around 75 per cent of its starch as amylose and 25 per cent as amylopectin, a starch that is digested in the small intestine, leading to the spike in blood sugars common after eating starchy food.

This is a direct inverse of normal wheat lines, which contain 75pc amylopectin and 25pc amylose.