Evaluation of antioxidative and diabetes-preventive properties of an ancient grain, KAMUT® khorasan wheat, in healthy volunteers

Caterina Trozzi, Francesca Raffaelli, Arianna Vignini, Laura Nanetti, Rosaria Gesuita, Laura Mazzanti

Recently, there was an increasing interest on the use of ancient grains because of their better health-related composition. The aim of this study was to evaluate in healthy human subjects the antioxidative and diabetes-preventive properties of ancient KAMUT(®) khorasan wheat compared to modern wheat. The study was a randomized, non-blind, parallel arm study where the biochemical parameters of volunteers with a diet based on organic whole grain KAMUT(®) khorasan products, as the only source of cereal products were compared to a similar replacement diet based on organic whole grain modern durum wheat products. A total of 30 healthy volunteers were recruited and the intervention period lasted 16 weeks. Blood analyses were performed before and after the diet intervention. The effect of KAMUT(®) khorasan products on biochemical parameters was analyzed by multiple quantile regression adjusted for age, sex, physical activity and BMI compared to data at baseline. Subjects receiving KAMUT(®) khorasan products showed a significantly greater decrease of fat mass (b = 3.7%; CI 1.6-5.5; p = 0.042), insulin (b = 2.4 µU/ml; CI 0.2-4.2; p = 0.036) and a significant increase of DHA (b = - 0.52%; CI - 1.1 to - 0.12; p = 0.021). Our study provides evidence that a substitution diet with KAMUT(®) khorasan wheat products can reduce some markers associated to the development of type-2 diabetes compared to a diet of modern wheat.