STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN — A new study from Swedish researchers has found that eating rye bread, particularly rye bread with rye bran, for breakfast may help increase the feeling of being full eight hours after intake compared with eating wheat bread.

The study, "Effect of rye bread breakfasts on subjective hunger and satiety: a randomized controlled trial," was published Aug. 26 in the on-line edition of Nutrition Journal.

The study was divided into two parts, with the first part, called the Milling fractions study, featuring 16 participants (14 women and 2 men) comparing the satiating effect of iso-caloric bread breakfasts including different milling fractions of rye (bran, intermediate fraction and sifted flour). The second part, called the Dose-response study, included 16 participants (13 women and 3 men) and examined the effect of rye bran and intermediate rye fraction, each providing 5 or 8 grams of dietary fiber per iso-caloric bread breakfast.

"The Milling fractions study showed that each of the rye breakfasts resulted in a suppressed appetite during the time period before lunch (8:30 to noon) compared with the wheat reference bread breakfast," the researchers noted. "At a comparison between the rye bread breakfasts the one with rye bran induced the strongest effect on satiety. In the afternoon the effect from all three rye bread breakfasts could still be seen as a decreased hunger and desire to eat compared to the wheat reference bread breakfast.

"In the Dose-response study, both levels of rye bran and the lower level of intermediate rye fractions resulted in an increased satiety before lunch compared with the wheat reference bread breakfast. Neither the variation in composition between the milling fractions nor the different doses resulted in significant differences in any of the appetite ratings when compared with one another."

The researchers noted that rye possibly has superior satiating properties "due to its high dietary fiber content and possibly fiber composition."