Improving cereal grain carbohydrates for diet and health

Abstract

Starch and cell wall polysaccharides (dietary fibre) of cereal grains contribute to the health benefits associated with the consumption of whole grain cereal products, including reduced risk of obesity, type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease and colorectal cancer. The physiological bases for these effects are reviewed in relation to the structures and physical properties of the polysaccharides and their behaviour (including digestion and fermentation) in the gastro-intestinal tract. Strategies for modifying the content and composition of grain polysaccharides to increase their health benefits are discussed, including exploiting natural variation and using mutagenesis and transgenesis to generate further variation. These studies will facilitate the development of new types of cereals and cereal products to face the major health challenges of the 21st century.

Finger millet bioactive compounds, bioaccessibility, and potential health effects - a review

“…Structure of finger millet arabinoxylan (Rao & Muralikrishna 2004) Review Czech J. Food Sci., 35, 2017 (1): 7-17 doi: 10.17221/206/2016-CJFS Lafiandra et al 2014). The structural analysis of purified arabinoxylans isolated from hemicellulose B of finger millet showed structural similarity to other cereal arabinoxylans.…”

“…Dietary fibre (DF) is a multi-component mixture of plant origin and forms the main food constituent that influences the rate and extent to which blood glucose increases after ingestion of a carbohydrate or analogous carbohydrate food (AACC 2001;Fardet 2010). Primary plant dietary fibres include non-starch polysaccharides, non-α-glucan oligosaccharide, resistance starches, some polyols, and modified starches (Lafiandra et al 2014).…”

“…In the report of Rao and Muralikrishna (2006) it was found that the bound ferulic acids were covalently attached to terminal arabinose residues at C-3 of the xylan backbone. These substitutions often result in the formation of ferulate dimers or rarely triferulate residues which are very stable and possess high antioxidant properties (Chandrasekara & Shahidi 2011;Lafiandra et al. 2014).…”

“…Phenolic compounds of finger millet have been shown to have a potential modulatory effect on the breakdown of carbohydrates either by reacting with proteins/enzymes or altering properties of biopolymers. Whereas the high dietary fibre is implicated in lower postprandial glucose and insulin responses owing to its participation/formation of unabsorbable complexes with available carbohydrates (Devi et al 2014;Lafiandra et al 2014). These phenomena often affect carbohydrate digestibility and result in the delay of the systemic absorption of glucose which ultimately controls the postprandial blood glucose surge.…”

Arabinoxilanos y su importancia en la salud

“…Los AX son los principales polisacáridos no celulósicos en los cereales (Mendis y Simsek, 2014), están constituidos por una cadena principal lineal de β-D-(1,4)-xilopiranosasustituida en los grupos hidroxilo de las posiciones 2 y 3 por residuos de tipo L-arabinofuranosil unidos mediante enlaces glucosídicos β (1,4).La posición 5 suele estar sustituida por restos de ácido ferúlico (Broekaert et al, 2011;Lafiandra et al, 2014).La hidrólisis enzimática de los AX por las xilanasas y las arabinofuranosidasasproduce arabinoxilooligosacáridos (AXOS) y xilooligosacáridos (XOS) (Adams et al, 2004) que son considerados fibra dietética y que tienen múltiples efectos beneficiosos para la salud (efecto inmunomodulador, hipocolesterolémicos, control de la diabetes tipo 2, mayor absorción de ciertos minerales, efecto prebiótico, etc.) (Mendis y Simsek, 2014).…”