Rye and Health

Food uses of rye are typical for the Northern and Eastern Europe. In the early times the main function of  rye bread was to provide energy for hard physical work. With increasing standard of living, the use declined in the 1900s´, but the new health challenges of increasing obesity and many chronic diseases have made rye in a new way interesting. The evidence about the health potential of rye bread and other rye-based foods is expanding.

Rye is rich and versatile source of dietary fibre, especially arabinoxylan. Rye grain also contains phenolic acids, lignans, alkylresorcinos and many other compounds with potential bioactivities. It has also been demonstrated that rye bread has beneficial effects on glucose homeostasis, and may thus help to reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes and heart disease.