The Sourdough School

BREAD COURSES || NUTRITION TRAINING || DIGESTION ANALYSIS || PERSONALISED BREAD

Learn to bake, eat, and share the healthiest bread in the world. Discover how to bake as Lifestyle Medicine from the walled gardens of Dr Vanessa Kimbell’s beautiful Victorian home in rural Northamptonshire in the UK, where we train healthcare professionals, teach bakers, and support individuals to bake personalised bread using nutrigenetics and gut health assessments.

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648 - ‘Cardiovascular benefits from ancient grain bread consumption: findings from a double-blinded randomized crossover intervention trial’. International Journal Of Food Sciences And Nutrition. Volume 68, pages 97-103

Reference Number: 648

Year: 2016

Authors: Alice Sereni et.al

Link: Link to original paper

Health: Cholesterol | Heart Disease

Nutrition: Whole grain

Summary

Ancient grain varieties have been shown to have some beneficial effects on health. Forty-five clinically healthy subjects were included in a randomized, double-blinded crossover trial aimed at evaluating the effect of a replacement diet with bread derived from ancient grain varieties versus modern grain variety on cardiovascular risk profile. After 8 weeks of intervention, consumption of bread obtained by the ancient varieties showed a significant amelioration of various cardiovascular parameters. Indeed, the ancient varieties were shown to result in a significant reduction of total cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein (LDL)-cholesterol and blood glucose, whereas no significant differences during the phase with the modern variety were reported. Moreover, a significant increase in circulating endothelial progenitor cells were reported after the consumption of products made from the ancient “Verna” variety.

Significance to the baker:

In the past decades, breeding strategies have been predominantly aimed at improving the yield production of wheat, at the expense of the nutritional profile. This led to the progressive abandonment of the ancient varieties, which are not suitable for the high-input conventional cultivation system. The present findings highlight that ancient grain varieties could be useful in ameliorating the profile of important biomarkers in consumers, potentially protecting against cardiovascular disease.

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All reasonable care is taken when advising about health aspects of bread, but the information that we share is not intended to take the place of treatment by a qualified medical practitioner. You must seek professional advice if you are in any doubt about any medical condition. Any application of the ideas and information contained on this website is at the reader's sole discretion and risk.

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