Abstract
Although ancient, heritage, and modern wheat varieties appear rather similar from a nutritional point of view, having a similar gluten content and a comparable toxicity linked to their undigested gluten peptide, whenever the role of ancient end heritage wheat grains has been investigated in animal studies or in clinical trials, more anti-inflammatory effects have been associated with the older wheat varieties. This review provides a critical overview of existing data on the differential physiological responses that could be elicited in the human body by ancient and heritage grains compared to modern ones. The methodology used was that of analyzing the results of relevant studies conducted from 2010 through PubMed search, by using as keywords “ancient or heritage wheat”, “immune wheat” (protein or peptides), and immune gluten (protein or peptides). Our conclusion is that, even if we do not know exactly which molecular mechanisms are involved, ancient and heritage wheat varieties have different anti-inflammatory and antioxidant proprieties with respect to modern cultivars. It is, therefore, reasonable to assume that the health proprieties attributed to older cultivars could be related to wheat components which have positive roles in the modulation of intestinal inflammation and/or permeability.
Highlights
Ancient, Heritage, and Modern Wheat CultivarsMan first domesticated a diploid and tetraploid wheats about 10,000 years ago [1]
We are convinced that the nutritional characteristics of a cereal with a very complex composition, and that undergoes profound industrial transformations before being a food, are not deducible from single in vitro studies, and, for this reason, we propose an overall review of all the studies, including clinical trials on humans, to try to overcome an ideological separation that can be useful for the food industries but certainly not to the scientific community
Ancient grains, on average, seem to contain greater amounts of selenium. This was highlighted in a study that focused on Khorasan wheat (Kamut® brand) in which the highest selenium content was associated with its antioxidant and type 2 diabetes prevention properties demonstrated in this clinical study [38]
Summary
Man first domesticated a diploid and tetraploid wheats about 10,000 years ago [1]. One of the wheat originally domesticated is sometimes called “einkorn,” and it has only one genome, designated as A genome. Is possible this high gluten content: 10–11%content of protein content is considered minimal for breadItmaking It is that possible selection increased the glutenthe strength wheat, of measured with the modern index The first factor was the great availability of fertilizers (substantially nitrates and phosphates), deriving from the reconversion of the war industries, while the second historical factor is the beginning of the industrialization of the processes related to food production From this moment the main criteria of grain selection become the high agricultural yield, obtained with the fertilization, and the high strength of the gluten, required to speed up the industrial procedures related to the processing of wheat. The current debate, concerns the possible differences between modern and heritage or ancient wheat cultivars with regard to human health and to wheat-related diseases, in particular. We are convinced that the nutritional characteristics of a cereal with a very complex composition, and that undergoes profound industrial transformations before being a food, are not deducible from single in vitro studies, and, for this reason, we propose an overall review of all the studies, including clinical trials on humans, to try to overcome an ideological separation that can be useful (and exploited) for the food industries but certainly not to the scientific community
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