Flour from year-old wheat helps lower glucose levels
A study by the National Institute of Ayurveda (NIA) in Jaipur found that consuming flour from old wheat (stored for over a year) significantly reduces blood glucose, HbA1c, and triglyceride levels compared to fresh wheat flour. The study linked fresh wheat flour consumption to prediabetes and demonstrated that old wheat’s lower glycemic index benefits prediabetic patients. This controlled trial included patients primarily consuming fresh wheat flour.
Jaipur: A study conducted by National Institute of Ayurveda (NIA) here has discovered that consumption of flour derived from old wheat, which has been stored for more than a year, significantly reduces blood glucose, HbA1c, and triglyceride levels when compared to flour made from new wheat. The study defines ‘purana godhuma’ (old wheat) as grains that have undergone a storage period of at least one year.
These aged grains are considered highly beneficial due to their inherent lightness (laghu) and the gradual diminution of their potency over time, rendering them drier and with lower glycemic index in comparison to new wheat.
The study, titled ‘Aetiopathological study of nava godhuma and puraa godhuma in prameha purvarupa in context of Prediabetes’, delved into the intricate role of diet, particularly focusing on nava anna godhuma (fresh wheat flour) and pura anna godhuma (wheat flour older than one year), in the complex etiopathogenesis of prediabetes. Various ayurveda samhitas eloquently describe the consumption of nava-anna (freshly harvested crop) as a significant etiological factor of prameha (Diabetes mellitus type 2). “It is one of the studies using ayurveda samhitas being conducted to address the impact of changing
lifestyles on health and the resulting diseases,” said Dr Sanjeev Sharma, vice-chancellor of NIA. The study identified patients with distinct clinical features of prediabetes who met stringent laboratory criteria and
primarily consumed fresh wheat flour as their staple diet.
“These patients were randomly allocated into two groups for a rigorously controlled trial. The negative control group B, comprising half the patients, received no intervention, while the remaining half were assigned to Group A, where wheat flour older than one year was introduced as the primary diet. We procured the old wheat for them, which we had diligently stored for a year,” said Dr Surendra Sharma, head of the Roga Nidan Evam Vikriti Vigyana department at NIA.
