Rye is an often overlooked whole grain that can be very beneficial in a healthy diet. Rye adds variety. Whole-grain cereal foods including rye have been identified as providing significant health benefits that do not occur when refined-cereal foods are ingested.

Rye is underutilized whole grain. Although Rye is considered to be a minor cereal grain it has major health benefits. These include lowered blood glucose and insulin responses, lower absorption levels with implications for weight management, and increased satiety. Grain rye is also marketed for its antioxidant levels, with an antioxidant capacity below artichokes and blueberries, but above strawberries, raisins and spinach.

I would go further and say make most of your grain and cereal consumption whole grains. If you need flour for a recipe grind it in a home appliance and use it freshly milled. You keep more of the nutrients. You only need to preccess the mount you need cutting down on waste and possible infestation from bugs.

There are health benefits to whole grain rye.  

WEIGHT PROBLEMS? WHOLE GRAIN RYE MAY HELP!

Intake of rye fiber increases the excretion of energy. This may help to prevent the development of obesity.

 High fiber diets have several positive effects on human health. One of these is helping to control body weight. The most important mechanism is undoubtedly that whole grain food may increase the bulk of the food and probably long-term satiety (Koh-Banerjee and Rimm 2003; Liu et al. 2003). The effects on satiety are not scientifically proven but they can be tested individually by trial and error. The soluble fiber in rye is expected to increase the viscosity of food in the stomach, and thus delay the evacuation of stomach contents into the small intestine. This prolonged stay of food in the stomach increases the replete feeling, and thus helps in dieting (Hagander et al. 1987).

A second and possibly less-important but significant mechanism is that some factor in the whole grain fiber complex may decrease the availability of energy from a diet. There is an increase in the excretion of nitrogen, fat and energy from the small intestine in individuals eating a whole grain rye diet and this is highly correlated with the dry matter of the small intestinal content (Zhang et. al. 1994). In a follow-up experiment, they have confirmed the first results and further characterized the components of the excreted materials. In this study on ileostomy subjects the intake of high-fiber rye bran bread or wheat bread during different dietary regimes (nibbling - 7 meals/day, or gorging - 3 meals/day) was investigated with an emphasis on the excretion of energy and nutrients. The intake of rye bran bread increased the excretion of all nutrients (fat, protein and carbohydrates) and energy in all individuals. The excretion of nutrients and energy did not differ between the two eating regimes. During the high-fiber period the energy excretion was almost as much as twice the amount (2400 kJ/day) compared to the excretion during the wheat bread period (1400 kJ/day) as measured using a bomb calorimeter.

On the other hand, even though human enzymes cannot break down dietary fiber, part of the energy in dietary fiber can become available for humans following the microbial breakdown of the dietary fiber polysaccharides in the colon and the formation of short-chain fatty acids. Therefore, the energy obtained from dietary fiber depends largely on the extent of fiber fermentation (Slavin 2003). The net effect of these processes of energy utilization has, however, not yet been clarified, but experiments are under way to study what is happening in the large intestine.

In animal experiments it has also been found that exogenous fiber-degrading enzymes added to the rye diet increase the amount of energy received from rye (Petterson et al. 1994, Boros 1995). From this it could be assumed that the fiber in rye restricts the uptake of energy from the small intestine.  

Complete Nutrient Analysis:

Vitamins

Minerals

Carotenoids, Flavonoids, Phytonutrients

Amino Acids

Fatty Acids

Nutrients marked with an asterisk (*) indicate data totals with some values not available. This may result in an under reporting of values.

Food manufacturers usually do not report all food nutrient values.

These nutrient values generated from the USDA Nutrient research Database using NutriBase 7 Nutrition software

Copyright © 2007, by NutriCoach. All rights Reserved.