Health benefits of novel, value-added brewers’ spent grain flours

With the rise in craft brewing has come an increase in waste produced during the brewing process; roughly a pound of edible and nutritious grain is created for every six pack of brewed beer. ReGrained is a mission-driven food-tech company that is transforming brewing waste and byproducts into value-added tasty ingredients and products. In partnership with the USDA ARS, ReGrained has developed patent-pending technology to rescue, process, and stabilize wet food manufacturing byproducts and create ingredients. SuperGrain+, produced from brewery byproduct ("brewers' spent grain" or BSG), is the company's initial development focus before moving onto additional food and beverage industry byproduct streams. As a comparative analog, ReGrained's seeks to do for the brewing industry what whey did for cheese; once a valueless waste stream, now a food industry staple. Tens of billions of pounds if BSG is generated per annum, in the United States alone. Traditionally, breweries sell or donate this grain to farmers for use as animal feed, because despite its impressive nutritional profile, it spoils quickly. ReGrained's technology solution enables food-grade commercialization of this resource as an ingredient. This novel processing enables it to be sustainably introduced as a nutritionally valuable and delicious ingredient for human consumption while extending the life cycle and value of the grain and putting waste produced by the brewing industry to the highest use. Earlier research has shown strong potential for being recycled and used as a low cost source of fiber, proteins and other nutrients that may provide a number of benefits when incorporated into human diets such as a prevention of certain diseases including cancer, gastrointestinal disorders, diabetics and coronary heart disease. This Phase I grant proposal will conduct animal studies in support of a future Phase II human clinical trial to determine the efficacy of dried BSG flours on amelioration of insulin resistance, promotion of beneficial gut microflora, assistance in weight management, and reduction of biomarkers of obesity related metabolic diseases. The data from Phase I will support marketing of BSG products, as our findings will allow for efficient processing and implementation of BSG at scale. After demonstrating significant health benefits, human studies in Phase II will support successful commercialization of dried BSG flour and derived new products. If successful, ReGrained's processing facilities have the potential of creating more jobs in a new industry that could improve the health of the American public by producing an ingredient that is high in fiber, proteins and phenolics/antioxidants. In addition to improving human health, the processing of BSG into nutritious ingredients will also provide more sustainable options to decrease waste disposal in landfills.