Diabetic-friendly wheat strain developed in Karnataka

Crop scientists in Karnataka have developed a high-yielding wheat variety, whose regular consumption helps control the level of sugar in diabetic patients.

According to Indian Council for Agricultural Research (ICAR), the University of Agricultural Sciences in Dharwad in Karnataka had come out with a new strain of wheat, whose food products not only dissolve slowly in the human body, but also release fewer calories.

Released at the All India Wheat and Barley Researchers’ Meet held at Kanpur last week, the variety of wheat developed by crop scientists of Karnataka was found to have a positive impact on the blood glucose, lipoprotein, triglycerides and plasma cholesterol level.

Agricultural researchers from Karnataka had already tested the medicinal benefits of the wheat strain on 35 diabetic patients. The food products from the variety of wheat took five to six hours to completely dissolve in the human body, thereby controlling the level of sugar.

Also, compared to the normal bread, the food products from the variety of wheat newly developed contained more protein and dietary fibre.

According to a leading crop scientist from Karnataka R R Hanchinal, the new variety of wheat gives ten per cent more yield.