Oklahoma State University Partners with National Coalition to Boost Fiber Content in Wheat

Credit: AI

Oklahoma State University (OSU) is leading a collaborative effort to make America’s favorite grain even healthier. The OSU Wheat Improvement Team has joined forces with researchers across the nation through the Coalition for Grain Fiber, a scientific alliance focused on increasing dietary fiber levels in wheat.

Fiber is a crucial nutrient for human health, helping to regulate blood sugar and promote digestive wellness. However, only about 5% of Americans consume the recommended 25 grams of fiber per day, with the national average hovering around just 16 grams. Since 30% of the fiber in the U.S. diet comes from wheat, improving wheat’s natural fiber content could have a major public health impact.

“There’s a lot of room for improvement in our dietary habits, but we can also make scientific advances to help make those goals more achievable,” said Dr. Brett Carver, Wheat Genetics Chair at Oklahoma State University. “Like everyone else, I love doughnuts, but there are times I wish a doughnut had a little more fiber in it. We’re trying to do something about that.”

The Coalition for Grain Fiber unites plant breeders and geneticists from institutions across the U.S., including the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, where Assistant Professor Dr. Katherine Frels serves as co-leader of the initiative. Together, the team is investigating how to integrate high-fiber traits from two exceptional wheat varieties — one from the United Kingdom and another from China — both rich in arabinoxylans, a type of natural dietary fiber found in cereal grains such as wheat, rye, corn, and barley.

“We have many questions about how high-fiber wheat will perform in different environments and how it will mill and bake,” said Frels. “A large part of our work depends on wheat breeders like Dr. Carver integrating the high-fiber trait into top breeding lines. By working together, we can develop new lines while also exploring fiber variation in hard red winter wheat.”

Carver estimates that enhanced wheat varieties could boost fiber intake by 1 to 3 grams per day. While this is a modest increase, he says it could become significant when combined with other dietary innovations, such as resistant starch. “We don’t have to rely on wheat entirely,” he noted, “but wheat should do its job.”

Fiber in wheat kernels primarily comes from four components — lignin, arabinoxylans, fructans, and amylose (a source of resistant starch). The coalition’s current focus is on arabinoxylans, while Carver’s team is also pursuing advances in resistant starch by identifying molecular markers linked to starch composition.

“Right now, we’re selecting for genes that naturally produce higher amylose levels and incorporating them into new germplasm,” Carver explained. “We already have some promising material with potential fiber benefits, but we still need more advanced tools to directly measure and validate those traits.”

Those tools may soon arrive with the planned OSU Agronomy Discovery Center, a future research complex featuring modern laboratories, greenhouses, and a dedicated research and education facility. OSU Agriculture is currently seeking funding to bring this state-of-the-art center to life.

“We’re breeding wheat to help farmers make a living and feed the world,” Carver said. “But anytime we can take that extra step to improve the quality of what we eat, we should. It’s going to take a united effort to make it happen — and that’s exactly why this coalition exists.”