Fungus Makes Bread Better for You
When wheat is grown with this fungus, the grains become larger and richer in essential micronutrients like zinc and phosphorus. Even better, the added phosphorus doesn’t increase phytate—an anti-nutrient that blocks mineral absorption—so the nutrients remain more available to the body. This finding could lead to more nutritious, naturally fortified wheat without needing chemical additives or genetic modification, the journal Plants, People, Planet reported.
A study has found that growing bread wheat alongside a particular soil fungus can naturally enhance the grain’s nutrient content.
Researchers compared wheat grown with and without the arbuscular mycorrhizal fungus Rhizophagus irregularis. They discovered that wheat paired with the fungus produced larger grains containing more phosphorus and zinc. Importantly, the increased phosphorus levels did not lead to a rise in phytate (a compound known to reduce the body’s ability to absorb zinc and iron). This means that wheat grown with the fungus offered more bioavailable zinc and iron than wheat grown without it.
“Beneficial soil fungi could be used as a sustainable option to exploit soil-derived plant nutrients. In this case, we found potential to biofortify wheat with important human micronutrients by inoculating the plants with mycorrhizal fungi,” said corresponding author Stephanie J. Watts-Williams, PhD, of the University of Adelaide, in Australia.
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