Nutritional properties of hard white wheat and hard red winter wheats and alternative use of a gluten-starch washing stream

This investigation was designed to evaluate the cholesterol-lowering and cancer preventing properties of Hard White Winter Wheat and its fractions (whole flour, bran, straight grade flour) and compare them to those of Hard Red Winter Wheat; to compare the effects of the two wheats on zinc and calcium absorption; and to evaluate health benefits and functional properties of the "gum" by-product of a starch-gluten washing operation.;Serum cholesterol levels were significantly higher in animals fed the diet containing wheat-water solubles in comparison to those animals fed control or oat bran diets, but liver cholesterol levels were similar to animals fed the control diet. The viscous properties of dietary fiber were better predictors of cholesterol-lowering potential than solubility properties. Wheat water-solubles could be added to or substituted for 10% of egg whites in angel food cake formula.;In summary, red wheat diets were more hypocholesterolemic and offered better protection against colon tumor incidence than white wheat diets. For the most part, calcium and zinc losses in rats were similar with both wheats. On the basis of data presented here, red wheat appears to be a more healthful food than white wheat. The wheat water-solubles showed no cholesterol-lowering effect.;Animals fed the red wheat diets tended to have lower serum cholesterol levels than those fed respective white wheat diets, but the differences were only significant in animals fed whole flour diets. Among the different wheat fractions, the bran, red whole flour, and red straight grade flour diets showed hypocholesterolemic effect. The cholesterol-lowering effect of red whole flour, white bran and red bran was not statistically different than that of the oatmeal diet. There were no significant differences in the daily amount or percent loss of calcium in animals fed the respective hard white winter wheat or hard red winter wheat diets. Although animals fed all red wheat diets appeared to have lower incidence of tumor development, only the red bran fraction offered significant protection against colon cancer. Colon tumor incidence was weakly correlated with the amount of insoluble dietary fiber, total dietary fiber and phytic acid in the diet.