Regular boost for high fibre research

A $12.7 million research alliance that plans to develop new grain varieties with tailored fibre content has been launched at CSIRO's Discovery Centre in Canberra.

The High Fibre Grains Research Cluster will combine the skills and resources of the University of Queensland, the University of Adelaide, the University of Melbourne and CSIRO, through the Food Futures National Research Flagship, to develop wheats with improved health benefits and heightened value for the grains industry.

"Fibre is more than just bran," Professor Mike Gidley from UQ's Centre for Nutrition and Food Science said in a statement.

"Currently, wheat has less fibre than barley or oats. The cluster is aiming to change that by developing wheats with higher levels of health-promoting fibre.

"Dietary fibre contains a range of plant compounds and cellular structures that resist digestion and have the potential to lower plasma cholesterol and glycaemic index, as well as to promote regularity and improve bowel health.

"Fibre can also ferment in the bowel to produce compounds that may help us resist cancers and chronic diseases. Improving the fibre qualities of grains could have major benefits for consumers at the population level."

The cluster will focus on the biggest source of fibre in grains - non-starch polysaccharides (NSP) of the plant cell wall.

"NSP are the building blocks that make up the structural elements of plant cell walls," the director of the Food Futures Flagship, Dr Bruce Lee, said.

"The cluster will focus on understanding the functions of NSP, what controls their synthesis and improving our ability to manipulate their levels and composition in grains.

The cluster will invest more than $12.7 million in the collaboration over three years, with the university partners receiving more than $3.6 million directly from the Flagship Collaboration Fund.