Bread aims to lower blood pressure

These days, it’s all about earning a crust, and food scientists at University College Cork have come up with yet another bread product that looks like a certain money-spinner.

This time around, it’s a low-salt variety tailored towards reducing blood pressure in some adults.

The miracle ingredient that brings about the reduction is derived from dried sourdough which is added to other dry ingredients.

Food boffins believe it will benefit adults with mild to moderately elevated blood pressure. Breads currently on the market have salt levels around 1 to 1.2g per 100g, whereas the UCC bread has only 0.3g per 100g.

Findings of a randomised control trial showed that substitution of regular bread with the low-salt variety over a number of weeks led to a significant reduction in systolic blood pressure, thus reducing the risk of cardiovascular disease.

The UCC scientists said the technology to produce the bread is well under way and interested companies are invited to contact UCC’s food science department.

Previously food scientists at UCC developed a revolutionary method to increase the shelf-life of bread by up to 14 days. This breakthrough, by Professor Elke Arendt and a research team in the Department of Food and Nutritional Sciences, was patented and licensed to Puratos, the Belgian-based multinational food ingredients company.

Sourdough also played a part in that breakthrough.

UCC was the first Irish university to develop a patent and licensing policy.