The Health Benefits of Rye

The Health Benefits of Rye

rye
Rye (Secale cereale) is a cereal, and is believed to have originated from a Central Asian wild grass, or from a wild rye found in Syria, Armenia, and Iran. Rye has been regarded as an inferior grain and was referred to by the Roman author and philosopher, Pliny the Elder, as food only fit to avert starvation. Rye flour retains more nutrients than wheat due to the difficulty in separating the germ and bran from the endosperm of rye. Rye was susceptible to the ergot fungus before the modern farming techniques today, and it is from the ergot fungus that the hallucinogenic drug LSD is synthesized.

The health benefits of rye include cholesterol reduction, digestive health, cancer prevention, and diabetes.

Health Benefits of Rye

Nutrients in Rye

Rye is a very good source of dietary fiber, phosphorus, magnesium,and vitamin B1. A comprehensive breakdown of nutrients can be found in our Nutrient Database.

Cholesterol Lowering

In a 4-week study of 18 men and 22 women who randomly consumed rye and wheat breads, it was concluded that including rye bread in daily dietary habits is an effective and practical method in reducing LDL cholesterol levels in men.

Another study has demonstrated that cholesterol levels were significantly higher after a low fiber diet than after a high fiber diet.

Cardiovascular Disease Prevention
Consumption of breads such as rye or pumpernickel is associated with a lower risk of incident cardiovascular disease, and a higher intake of whole grain breakfast cereals is associated with a lower risk of heart failure. It has also been recommended that the elderly increase consumption of dietary cereal fiber due to the association with a lower risk of incident cardiovascular disease.

Cancer Prevention

Rye foods are associated with increased plasma enterolactone, which is an enterolignan (mammalian lignan) that is formed by intestinal microflora after the consumption of plant lignans. Lignans are naturally occurring plant compounds found in rye and other food such as flax seed. Enterolactone can potentially reduce the risks of certain cancers. Enterolactone, and enterodiol, another lignan derived from rye and other foods, have been shown to reduce mammary tumor and inhibit colon tumor cell growth. The fiber in rye may also reduce the risk of colorectal cancer due to improved bowel function.

Diabetes Prevention

In a study at Department of Clinical Nutrition in Finland, postprandial (the time after any meal) insulin responses to the ingestion of rye breads were significantly lower than the response to refined wheat bread. Plasma glucose and insulin peaks are lower after a high fiber diet compared with a low fiber diet.

Menopause

Lignans act as phytoestrogens (plant chemicals that mimic the hormone estrogen), and also as antioxidants. Due to their oestrogenic activity lignans help to reduce hot flushes and vaginal dryness in postmenopausal women and to some degree may inhibit osteoporosis. Higher dietary intake of cereal fiber and whole-grain products are also associated with less development of coronary atherosclerosis in postmenopausal women with coronary artery disease.

Digestive Health

Whole-grain foods such as rye provide significant digestive health benefits that refined grain products fail to provide. The fiber from rye appears to be more effective than that from wheat in overall improvement of digestive health. An animal study has demonstrated “moister feces and significantly enhanced gut production” with a rye diet as opposed to a wheat diet. Whole-meal rye bread has been shown to significantly increase fecal output and fecal frequency compared with wheat bread in both women and men.

Glycemic Index of Rye

Ryvita brand crispbread has a medium GI of 63, and rye whole kernels have a low GI of 39.

Due to the gluten in rye, it should be avoided by gluten intolerant individuals. References:
1. The Encyclopedia of Healing Foods by Michael Murray, Joseph Pizzorno, and Lara Pizzorno.
2. Benders' Dictionary of Nutrition and Food Technology.
3. USDA National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference.
4. Bach Knudsen KE, Serena A, Kjaer AK, Jørgensen H, Engberg R. Rye bread enhances the production and plasma concentration of butyrate but not the plasma concentrations of glucose and insulin in pigs. J Nutr. 2005 Jul;135(7):1696-704. PMID: 15987852.
5. McIntosh GH, Noakes M, Royle PJ, Foster PR. Whole-grain rye and wheat foods and markers of bowel health in overweight middle-aged men. Am J Clin Nutr. 2003 Apr;77(4):967-74. PMID: 12663299.
6. Bach Knudsen KE, Serena A, Kjaer AK, Tetens I, Heinonen SM, Nurmi T, Adlercreutz H. Rye bread in the diet of pigs enhances the formation of enterolactone and increases its levels in plasma, urine and feces. J Nutr. 2003 May;133(5):1368-75. PMID: 12730424.
7. Juntunen KS, Laaksonen DE, Autio K, Niskanen LK, Holst JJ, Savolainen KE, Liukkonen KH, Poutanen KS, Mykkänen HM. Structural differences between rye and wheat breads but not total fiber content may explain the lower postprandial insulin response to rye bread. Am J Clin Nutr. 2003 Nov;78(5):957-64. PMID: 14594782.
8. Hagander B, Björck I, Asp NG, Efendić S, Holm J, Nilsson-Ehle P, Lundquist I, Scherstén B. Rye products in the diabetic diet. Postprandial glucose and hormonal responses in non-insulin-dependent diabetic patients as compared to starch availability in vitro and experiments in rats. Diabetes Res Clin Pract. 1987 Mar-Apr;3(2):85-96. PMID: 2436870.
9. Leinonen K, Liukkonen K, Poutanen K, Uusitupa M, Mykkänen H. Rye bread decreases postprandial insulin response but does not alter glucose response in healthy Finnish subjects. Eur J Clin Nutr. 1999 Apr;53(4):262-7. PMID: 10334650.
10. Leinonen KS, Poutanen KS, Mykkänen HM. Rye bread decreases serum total and LDL cholesterol in men with moderately elevated serum cholesterol. J Nutr. 2000 Feb;130(2):164-70. PMID: 10720164.
11. Lundin EA, Zhang JX, Lairon D, Tidehag P, Aman P, Adlercreutz H, Hallmans G. Effects of meal frequency and high-fibre rye-bread diet on glucose and lipid metabolism and ileal excretion of energy and sterols in ileostomy subjects. Eur J Clin Nutr. 2004 Oct;58(10):1410-9. PMID: 15100716.
12. Gråsten SM, Juntunen KS, Poutanen KS, Gylling HK, Miettinen TA, Mykkänen HM. Rye bread improves bowel function and decreases the concentrations of some compounds that are putative colon cancer risk markers in middle-aged women and men. J Nutr. 2000 Sep;130(9):2215-21. PMID: 10958815.
13. Milder IE, Arts IC, van de Putte B, Venema DP, Hollman PC. Lignan contents of Dutch plant foods: a database including lariciresinol, pinoresinol, secoisolariciresinol and matairesinol. Br J Nutr. 2005 Mar;93(3):393-402. PMID: 15877880.
14. Bach Knudsen KE, Serena A, Kjaer AK, Tetens I, Heinonen SM, Nurmi T, Adlercreutz H. Rye bread in the diet of pigs enhances the formation of enterolactone and increases its levels in plasma, urine and feces. J Nutr. 2003 May;133(5):1368-75. PMID: 12730424.
15. Adlercreutz H, Mazur W. Phyto-oestrogens and Western diseases. Ann Med. 1997 Apr;29(2):95-120. PMID: 9187225.
16. Sung MK, Lautens M, Thompson LU. Mammalian lignans inhibit the growth of estrogen-independent human colon tumor cells. Anticancer Res. 1998 May-Jun;18(3A):1405-8. PMID: 9673348.
17. Erkkilä AT, Herrington DM, Mozaffarian D, Lichtenstein AH. Cereal fiber and whole-grain intake are associated with reduced progression of coronary-artery atherosclerosis in postmenopausal women with coronary artery disease. Am Heart J. 2005 Jul;150(1):94-101. PMID: 16084154.
18. Djoussé L, Gaziano JM. Breakfast cereals and risk of heart failure in the physicians' health study I. Arch Intern Med. 2007 Oct 22;167(19):2080-5. PMID: 17954802.
19. Mozaffarian D, Kumanyika SK, Lemaitre RN, Olson JL, Burke GL, Siscovick DS. Cereal, fruit, and vegetable fiber intake and the risk of cardiovascular disease in elderly individuals. JAMA. 2003 Apr 2;289(13):1659-66. PMID: 12672734.

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