Are ancient grains better for you? The surprising truth about quinoa and spelt

Is the hype around the health benefits of ancient grains justified? Scientists say its not as clear-cut as you might think.

Ancient grains are those that have barely changed for hundreds of years. Unlike commonly farmed crops like wheat, which humans have selectively bred over millennia, ancient grains have maintained genetic properties from their wild ancestors. And today they enjoying something of a resurgence in popularity.

They're linked to many health claims, including that they contain more nutrients than their modern counterparts.

But are they really any better than more modern grains, which have been shaped and moulded by agricultural practices since the Stone Age?

Grains v wholegrains

Grains – like rice, wheat, oats and corn – make up a substantial part of our global diet. We get a lot of our fibre and carbohydrates from grains, as well as some protein.

It's recommended that at least half of the grains we consume be wholegrains. These are grains that haven’t been ground down and refined in a mill, so they still contain all three of their raw components: the bran, the endosperm and germ, which are rich in vitamins and polyphenols, including protein, vitamin B, iron and fibre.

Wholegrain pasta, for instance, has a distinctive, earthier taste – as well as more fibre, antioxidants and vitamins compared to refined pasta.

Refined grains, on the other hand, have been processed (often milled), and their original structure lost. Along the way, they've also lost some fibre and nutrients.

"Grains are refined for taste and properties regarding baking," says Rilla Tammi, a researcher in nutritional epidemiology at the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare, in Finland. "Refining is also linked to a longer shelf life."

This is because the bran and germ, which are typically removed in refining, contain fatty acids that shorten the shelf life.

Diets replete with wholegrains, however, are associated with a lower risk of numerous diseases, including type 2 diabetes. Research also shows a link between regularly eating wholegrains and experiencing lower blood pressure. In one 2020 review of 17 studies, researchers found that a diet high in wholegrains was linked to lower risk of colorectal, colon, gastric, pancreatic, and oesophageal cancers.

Still, these findings are to be taken with a pinch of salt. The population data on this is often confounded, because those who eat wholegrains tend to have many other healthy habits, says Julie Miller Jones, professor emerita of foods and nutrition at St. Catherine University in Minnesota, in the US.

One Finnish study, for example, analysed the eating habits and health of more than 5,000 adults. The scientists found that those who ate more wholegrains tended to have a healthier diet overall, consisting of more fruits, vegetables, low-fat milk and fish, and less red and processed meat.

Enter ancient grains

A growing body of nutritional research is now suggesting there is a distinction between "modern" grains that make up most of our diets and far less common "ancient grains". Many of both can be consumed as whole or refined grains, but modern grains are those bred over time through agricultural practices to select for offspring with desirable traits such as increased yield or superior taste.

The wheat and maize that we eat today have all been crossbred over millennia. Corn originates from a wild grass called teosinte, native to Mexico, with small seeds rather than large cobs. And modern wheat is the result of selective breeding from ancient wheat species, including emmer and spelt.

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Emmer was one of the first cereals to be domesticated, according to researchers, and was cultivated from around 9700BC in the Levant before spreading to the rest of the world with the development of Neolithic agriculture.

Ancient grains, conversely, are those that have not been interfered with by humans and retain more of their ancestral traits. Research suggests spelt, for example, was grown in the Neolithic period, which began around 12,000 years ago, and hasn't been purposefully tweaked since.

Barley is mentioned in some of the earliest records of human writing – some 4,000 years ago – from Mesopotamia. Around the same time chia seeds, which originated in Mexico, were being cultivated by the Aztecs.

Modern humans began rediscovering ancient grains in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, according to Amy Bogaard, professor of European archaeology at Oxford's School of Archaeology, in the UK. In many instances, it was farming communities working on excavations who encountered bits of grain that they recognised as belonging to species they weren't currently growing.

Those grains were charred, meaning they'd been cooked by our ancestors, says Bogaard.

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She and her colleagues have since studied thousands of samples of charred ancient grains to help them understand ancient farming practices and the soil conditions in which crops were grown.

Now, many of these grains are being reintroduced into modern diets. Some have even been given a protected designation – such as einkorn wheat, also known as petit épeautre, in Haute Provence, France.

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But ancient grains still aren't the most popular grains for farmers, who generally favour working with modern ones because they tend to produce higher yields, says Chris Seal, emeritus professor of food and human nutrition at Newcastle University.

"The reason we don't grow most ancient wheat varieties anymore is because, under modern agricultural conditions, they don't do as well," he says.

A lot of older wheat varieties are taller, whereas modern wheat tends to be relatively short, Seal says. Taller wheat is more likely to bend and break in windy weather, he says, which reduces the yield.

It is also partly because ancient grains aren't as useful when it comes to making bread, says Miller Jones. "The first thing a breeder breeds for is yield, the second is how well it makes bread," she says.

Are ancient grains truly healthier than modern grains?

One of the main benefits of ancient grains is that many of them contain little or no gluten. Millet belongs to a different family of grasses from wheat while quinoa is actually a seedbelonging to the same family as spinach and chard. This means people with a gluten allergy or intolerance can eat them, says Seal.

Some research has linked eating quinoa with improvements in the early signs of type 2 diabetes, says Seal.

In one study, for instance, 37 men ate bread made with quinoa flour every day for four weeks, compared to a group that ate refined white bread instead. The researchers found that the quinoa group had lower blood sugar after eating compared to their white bread-eating counterparts.

In 2020, however, researchers found little evidence that intensive has compromised the nutritional profiles of more modern varieties of grain. Although some minerals, including iron, zinc and magnesium have decreased significantly since the 1960s, according to some studies.

"There is a lot of hype around ancient grains," says Miller Jones. "The excitement is justified when it comes to people who can't eat gluten…but beyond that, whether they're ancient or not is dancing on the head of a pin," when it comes to the health benefits of grains.

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Still, says Seal, the number of studies on ancient grains and health is relatively small compared with studies on other, more recent types of grains. There are challenges in gathering reliable data because grains are influenced by their environment, so results should be compared in like-for-like conditions.

But one reason ancient grains may be better for us is less to do with what they contain – and more to do with how we process and eat them. It brings us back to a point we encountered earlier – we are more likely to eat them whole, says Seal.

"Compared with refined wheat, this means a higher fibre content, and more minerals and vitamins," he says.

The ancient grain resurgence

Climate change is undoubtedly one of the biggest factors affecting cereal production at the moment and this lies behind another reason for the resurgence of ancient grains, says Seal. Some ancient grains are often more resilient in harsher conditions and require fewer pesticides. So they might be important for ensuring we have reliable food supplies in the future.

"Farmers have been looking at different varieties to see which are more drought-resistant," says Seal. In one Turkish region affected by climate-change-induced land degradation through drought, small-scale farmers are reviving ancient wheat varieties with the aim of improving the land. And in West Africa, researchers are looking at how to best revive the ancient grain fonio, which is drought-resistant.

When it comes to diet, ancient grains per se might not totally deserve the hype around them. Instead eating a mix of all types of grains and preferably wholegrain, like in ancient times, experts argue, is key.

"There's a huge range of crops we completely neglect now," says Bogaard. "In ancient farming, cereals were always balanced with other species, they weren't singled out like they are now."

Miller Jones agrees, suggesting eating a range of grains, including ancient grains, to benefit from all their micronutrients. "If you eat all different kinds of grains, you're getting a whole array of vitamins," she says. "Variety is the best strategy."

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