Italian pasta manufacturer Granoro has launched a new product line that, it claims, is beneficial to the heart.
The Institute of Life Sciences at the Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna of Pisa conducted tests of the group's CuoreMio Bio Granoro pasta, which is produced with a mixture of hard wheat semolina and barley that is rich in beta-glucan.
The study fund that the product stimulates natural by-pass formation, which can continue to nourish the heart's tissue even when it is 'choked' by the occlusion of a coronary.
Published Study
The results of the study, conducted on laboratory mice, were published by US magazine Nature, by researchers at the Institute of Life Sciences of the Sant'Anna High School, with the co-ordination of Prof. Vincenzo Lionetti of the Unit of Translatory Medicine TrancriLab.
The study demonstrated that the regular consumption of this functional pasta contributes to the growth of new collateral branches of coronary arteries. It does so by increasing the expression of two molecules: the Vegf vascular growth factor, which favours the formation of new blood vessels, and parchment, a protein that protects those cells that cover the coronary lumen from the effects of ischemia.
Research findings also show that the daily intake of barley beta-glucan pasta does not induce insulin resistance.
According to Prof. Vincenzo Lionetti, this is the first time that natural by-pass formation is promoted through a functional food such as barley beta-glucan pasta.
© 2017 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Branislav Pekic. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: The European Supermarket Magazine
