Phytochemical Profiling and Untargeted Metabolite Fingerprinting of the MEDWHEALTH Wheat, Barley and Lentil Wholemeal Flours

Abstract

An important research target is improving the health benefits of traditional Mediterranean, durum wheat-based foods using innovative raw materials. In this study, we characterised wholemeal flours obtained from a traditional durum wheat cv. Svevo, two innovative durum wheat varieties (Svevo-High Amylose and Faridur), the naked barley cv. Chifaa and the elite lentil line 6002/ILWL118/1-1, evaluating them for targeted phytochemicals, untargeted metabolomics fingerprints and antioxidant capacity. To this aim, individual phenolic acids, flavonoids, tocochromanols and carotenoids were identified and quantified through HPLC-DAD, and the antioxidant capacities of both the extracts and whole meals were detected by ABTS assays. An untargeted metabolomics fingerprinting of the samples was conducted through NMR spectroscopy. Results showed that the innovative materials improved phytochemical profiles and antioxidant capacity compared to Svevo. In particular, Svevo-HA and Faridur had higher contents of ferulic and sinapic acids, β-tocotrienol and lutein. Moreover, Chifaa is a rich source of phenolic acids, β-tocopherols, lutein and zeaxanthin whereas lentil of flavonoids (i.e., catechin and procyanidin B2). The NMR profiles of Svevo-HA and Faridur showed a significant reduction of sugar content, malate and tryptophan compared to that of Svevo. Finally, substantial differences characterised the lentil profiles, especially for citrate, trigonelline and phenolic resonances of secondary metabolites, such as catechin-like compounds. Overall, these results support the potential of the above innovative materials to renew the health value of traditional Mediterranean durum wheat-based products.

The Chelating Ability of Plant Polyphenols Can Affect Iron Homeostasis and Gut Microbiota

“…Besides their radical scavenging activities, another mechanism by which polyphenols can exert their antioxidant activity involves iron binding. Iron, and transition metals in general, can be involved in the generation of oxygen free radicals, the reduction of peroxides, or reactions with superoxide anions [ 50 , 51 , 52 ], and, subsequently, oxidative stress. Polyphenols have been shown to have iron-binding abilities, which are mainly related to the presence of catechol and galloyl groups.…”

Characterization of Triticum turgidum sspp. durum, turanicum, and polonicum grown in Central Italy in relation to technological and nutritional aspects

“…The total (TOT-AX) and the water-extractable arabinoxylans (WE-AX) were measured on whole flours using the colorimetric methods reported respectively by Douglas (1981) and by Finnie et al. (2006) with some modification according to Romano et al. (2022) .…”

Genetic Approaches to Increase Arabinoxylan and β-Glucan Content in Wheat

“…In contrast, in the durum wheat Svevo-HA (a high-amylose TILLING line with knock-down alleles in two homoeologous starch branching enzyme IIa genes), β-glucan content was increased substantially (from 0.49 to 1.4%), with no significant change in total starch. However, the percentage of resistant starch was increased from 0.2 to 6.9% [ 107 ]. Therefore, the result of a targeted change in the carbon pool can be unpredictable and seems to relate to the specific point of change in the given polysaccharide synthesis pathway.…”