Khorasan wheat replacement diet and heart risk factors in ACS patients
What it found
In 22 people who had had an acute coronary syndrome, eating khorasan wheat products for eight weeks lowered total cholesterol, LDL cholesterol, blood glucose, insulin and some markers of oxidative stress and inflammation.
The same people showed no such changes after eating modern wheat products.
What they found
Studies in people
Cholesterol and LDL
After the khorasan wheat phase, total cholesterol fell by 6.8% and LDL cholesterol by 8.1% from baseline. No significant changes were seen after the modern wheat phase.
Blood glucose and insulin
Blood glucose dropped by 8% and insulin by 24.6% after the khorasan wheat phase. These changes did not occur after the control wheat phase.
Oxidative stress markers
Reactive oxygen species and lipoperoxidation in circulating monocytes and lymphocytes decreased significantly after khorasan wheat. No such decreases were seen after modern wheat.
Inflammation
Levels of the inflammatory cytokine TNF-alpha fell by 34.5% after the khorasan wheat phase. This reduction was not seen after the control wheat phase.
Magnesium increase
Magnesium levels rose significantly only after the khorasan wheat phase. The authors note that lower magnesium levels are linked to higher coronary risk.
Other findings
Wheat composition
Khorasan wheat flour had significantly more polyphenols, flavonoids, carotenoids and antioxidant activity than control wheat flour. Khorasan semolina and flour also had higher selenium, and khorasan flour had more vanadium.
What the authors conclude
“In conclusion, results demonstrate that an organic khorasan wheat replacement diet is effective at significantly reducing levels of total cholesterol, LDL-C, blood glucose, insulin, monocyte and lymphocyte ROS production and lipoperoxidation, and TNF-alpha, and increasing magnesium content in patients with ACS.”
Also in their conclusions
- They conclude that an organic khorasan wheat replacement diet significantly reduced total cholesterol, LDL-C, blood glucose, insulin, monocyte and lymphocyte ROS production and lipoperoxidation, and TNF-alpha, and increased magnesium in patients with ACS.
- They state that despite stringent medicinal therapies, the ancient organic khorasan wheat has an additive protective effect by further down-regulating several key parameters important for secondary prevention of ACS.
- They note that this protection is not afforded by conventional control wheat.
How it was done
The authors had previously found that a khorasan wheat replacement diet improved cardiovascular risk factors in healthy people. They wanted to see whether it could add protection for patients who already had acute coronary syndrome and were taking medicines.
They ran a randomised, double-blinded crossover trial in 22 patients with acute coronary syndrome (13 men, 9 women, median age 61). Each patient ate products made from either organic khorasan wheat or organic modern wheat for eight weeks, then switched to the other for another eight weeks, with an eight-week washout in between. Blood was tested at the start and end of each phase.
What it can’t tell you
- The study was small, with only 22 patients, so the results need to be confirmed in a larger group.
- The trial did not fully assess the overall diet of participants during each phase, so other dietary differences could have played a role.
- The findings apply to patients with acute coronary syndrome on medication, not to the general population.
Who paid
- Authors work at
- University of Florence, Italy; Careggi University Hospital, Italy; Don Carlo Gnocchi Foundation Florence, Italy
The paper
- Title
- An organic khorasan wheat-based replacement diet improves risk profile of patients with acute coronary syndrome: a randomized crossover trial
- Type
- Randomised controlled trial
- Evidence
- Studies in people
- Summarised from
- Full text
- Licence
- CC BY. Words in quotation marks are the authors’; the rest is our summary.
- Cite
- Whittaker A, Sofi F, Luisi ML, et al (2015). An organic khorasan wheat-based replacement diet improves risk profile of patients with acute coronary syndrome: a randomized crossover trial. Nutrients. doi:10.3390/nu7053401Free full textPubMed 25970146DOI
Summary written 30 Sep 2026. Check it against the paper before it changes what you eat. How we summarise papers · Report an error