Delivering high dietary fibre via improved wheat cultivars and products

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Dietary fibre (DF) is essential for human health, improving gastro-intestinal function and reducing the risk of a range of chronic diseases (including type 2 diabetes, cardio-vascular disease and types of cancer). However, most UK consumers do not eat DF, with the average daily intake being 17.2 g for women and 20.1g for men, compared with a target of 30g. Cereal products are the major source of DF in the UK diet, with bread alone contributing about 20%. However, the contribution from wheat is limited by the fact that most wheat products are made from white flour, which contains about 3.5% DF compared with 11.5-15.5% in wholemeal. We have therefore identified wheat lines with high DF in white flour, which can be used to develop high fibre wheat lines for UK farmers and products for UK consumers. The proposal will remove the constraints to the development of high fibre lines and products in the UK, by collaborating with four wheat breeders, 2 milling and baking companies and the organisations representing the milling (NABIM) and baking (Federation of Bakers) sectors.This will be achieved in two ways: by providing high fibre pre-breeding lines and molecular makers to wheat breeders, and high fibre lines to millers and bakers to optimise their processes. These advances will be disseminated by the BBSRC Designing Future Wheat programmes and by NABIM and FoB. It will therefore have a fundamental impact on the diet and health of UK consumers.