Do ancient wheat species differ from modern bread wheat in their contents of bioactive components?

Ancient wheat species (einkorn, emmer, spelt and Khorasan wheat) have been suggested to have health benefits when compared with modern cultivars of bread and durum wheat. Although limited data are available on the contents and compositions of bioactive components in ancient wheat species, reported studies show that they differ little from modern wheat species in the contents of most bioactive components, and may be lower in some components (such as dietary fibre). Although einkorn, emmer and Khorasan wheat all have higher high contents of the carotenoid lutein than bread wheat, durum wheat is also rich in lutein due to selection for yellow colour. These reported analyses do not support the suggestion that ancient wheats are generally more healthy than modern wheats. (C) 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.