As the daughter of a deli man, rye bread -- not white -- was my bread of choice. I covered my rye with mustard, piled on roast beef, turkey or corned beef and I was in sandwich heaven.

Now, after years of dietary guilt about my sandwiches, I find that they might have kept my hunger and maybe my waistline under control. All deli devotees will be interested in a study published last month in Nutrition Journal.

Swedish researchers gave 16 normal-weight subjects a breakfast with either rye or white bread. Typical Swedish breakfast foods were also served to provide a morning meal with 470 calories. A few hours after breakfast, feelings of hunger and satiety (the condition of feeling full) were compared.

The rye-bread breakfast produced greater satiety for the next few hours when compared to the white bread. Hunger and desire to eat was also lower after the rye-bread meal. The rye bread samples were higher in fiber so that could be a contributor to the results, in addition to the rye flour.

This is an important area of research since it is easier to make healthy food choices when not overcome with hunger.

The one nutritional downside is that much of the rye bread in supermarkets is mixed with white flour to lighten the texture. Dense and flat German-style pumpernickel is an example of 100 percent rye flour without added wheat. A slice of that bread really stays with you.

The little black seeds in rye bread are caraway. Traditional medicine believes that caraway alleviates gas pains and general gastrointestinal discomfort.

Rye bread made with whole wheat flour is available at specialty and health food stores.

If you're feeling hungry two hours after your usual breakfast, an experiment with rye might be the small tweak you need to make it through to lunch. U.S. government dietary guidelines recommend at least three servings of whole grains a day, so there is wiggle room for a slice of rye. And it tastes great with mustard and sliced turkey.

Sheah Rarback is a registered dietitian and on the faculty of the University of Miami Leonard M. Miller School of Medicine. Her column runs every other week.

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