MELBOURNE: High-amylose wheat developed largely by CSIRO is moving further into Australia’s food supply, with white loaves and rolls made from the flour now sold through Woolworths supermarkets with in-store bakeries. The grain is being commercialised by Allied Pinnacle under its Wise Wheat brand after more than two decades of research and breeding. CSIRO and Allied Pinnacle say the resulting flour delivers about six times the fibre of standard wheat flour while maintaining the taste and texture expected of everyday white bread.
CSIRO says the wheat was developed through conventional breeding after researchers began work in the 1990s and later partnered in 2006 with Limagrain and the Grains Research and Development Corporation. The breeding program lifted amylose content in the grain from about 20 to 30 per cent to roughly 85 per cent, raising resistant starch, a form of dietary fibre, to more than 20 per cent of total starch from less than 1 per cent in regular wheat. The technology is commercialised through Arista Cereal Technologies.
The Australian crop has moved through a closed-loop supply chain linking breeders, growers, millers and retailers. Australian Grain Technologies said HAW1 became the first variety placed in the Australian Innovative Wheat classification in 2022, a category for grains with distinct end-use traits. CSIRO announced in 2023 that Allied Pinnacle had secured exclusive Australian rights to the wheat. Farmers in New South Wales and Victoria are growing the current variety under premium arrangements because it can yield up to 30 per cent less grain than conventional wheat.
Clinical evidence backs health claims
Published human studies have reported lower post-meal blood glucose after bread made with high-amylose wheat. In a 2019 randomized crossover trial published in The Journal of Nutrition, 20 healthy adults who ate bread made from the flour recorded a 39 per cent lower glycemic response than those eating conventional wheat bread, while insulin and incretin responses were 24 to 30 per cent lower. The researchers said replacing conventional flour with high-amylose flour may be an effective way to reduce postprandial glycemic and insulinemic responses.
A 2022 randomized controlled trial in 80 healthy adults found that replacing refined conventional wheat with refined high-amylose wheat increased fecal butyrate excretion by 38 per cent and changed gut microbes and metabolites associated with gastrointestinal health, without worsening digestive comfort. In a separate 2023 crossover study involving 20 overweight adults, breakfast bread made with high-amylose flour cut post-meal glucose responses by 27 per cent to 39 per cent, and the higher-amylose bread also reduced the insulin response after the following lunch by 28 per cent.
Retail rollout reaches supermarket shelves
The retail rollout has turned a long-running research program into a mainstream supermarket product at a time when white bread remains a staple across Australian households. Allied Pinnacle says selected Wise Wheat loaves and rolls are available at Woolworths stores with in-store bakeries, and describes the flour as naturally high in prebiotic fibre. The commercial launch gives consumers access to white bread made with a flour designed to lift fibre intake without changing the product’s appearance, taste or texture.
CSIRO says the same high-amylose technology has also been commercialised overseas, including in the United States, and the wheat is now being grown in Europe and America as well as Australia. Higher yield remains the main agronomic hurdle for broader farm adoption because the current variety can produce less grain than conventional wheat, even as it delivers the fibre and resistant-starch profile that underpins its appeal in white bread and other flour-based foods. – By Content Syndication Services.