April 26/Sydney, Australia/CSIRO -- Very soon, bread and cereals will be blessed with wheat that will help as a protection against bowel cancer. CSIRO scientists are working to develop these popular grains with higher levels of alleged resistant starch, because in an earlier research, they got to know that this kind of starch in wheat greatly helps in reducing the risk of DNA damage in the colon, which is better known for originating bowel cancer.

It does exist in some wholegrain breads and cereals, legumes and firm bananas in which this kind of resistant starch is easily found. Besides, cooked pasta, rice and potatoes, after being cooled, also contains this starch.

According to the research published in the latest edition of The Journal of Nutrition, all those food items that are rich in protein and fat results in an enormous increase in the risk of developing bowel cancer. Therefore, if such diets are accompanied by food items containing resistant starch, then such type of risks could be easily eliminated.

As told by CSIRO colorectal cancer researcher Dr. Trevor Lockett, "What we've been trying to do is to develop grains and cereals which are higher in resistant starch, to essentially increase the range of things in our diet that we consume with pretty high frequency, which are rich in resistant starch."

Lockett also tried and explained that if individuals eat a large amount of red meat then they obviously tend to have lower portions of vegetable or resistant starch in any other form. They do not prefer taking dietary fiber along with red meat and this becomes the main reason for developing cancer to them.

However, if they mix their red meat diet with a higher dietary fiber component, then this risk could be effectively reduced to a great extent.

 From the April 26, 2012, Prepared Foods’ Daily News