Proanthocyanidins in Buckwheat Flour Can Reduce Salivary Nitrite to Nitric Oxide in the Stomach

Abstract

Buckwheat flour, which is used for various dishes in the world, is a good source of proanthocyanidins. Proanthocyanidins in the buckwheat flour reduced nitrous acid producing nitric oxide (NO) when the flour was suspended in acidified saliva or in acidic buffer solution in the presence of nitrite. The ingestion of dough prepared from buckwheat flour increased the concentration of NO in the air expelled from the stomach, suggesting that the proanthocyanidins also reduced nitrite to NO in the stomach. During the production of NO by the buckwheat flour/nitrous acid systems, oxidation, nitration, and nitrosation of proanthocyanidins proceeded. The increase in the concentration of NO could improve the activity of stomach helping the digestion of ingested foods and the nitration and nitrosation of the proanthocyanidins could contribute to the scavenging of reactive nitrogen oxide species generated from NO and nitrous acid.

The acute effect of flavonoid-rich apples and nitrate-rich spinach on cognitive performance and mood in healthy men and women

“…In vitro studies and in vivo experiments suggest that flavonoids could also mediate the direct bioconversion of nitrite to NO. These studies have demonstrated that flavonoids, in the acidic conditions of the stomach, can enhance the production of NO from salivary nitrite 27,[68][69][70] which can diffuse across the stomach wall and induce local muscle relaxation 28,71 . Since salivary nitrite is increased after nitrate consumption, polyphenols could, theoretically, enhance NO production after a nitrate rich meal.…”

Phenolic Compounds as Cultivar- and Variety-distinguishing Factors in Some Plant Products

“…Between them, noteworthy are: barley [10], buckwheat [3] (although it is not a cereal grain, it is usually grouped with other cereals because of a similarity in cultivation and utilization) and peas [7]. Grains of barley and buckwheat are used to produce frequently consumed groats and flakes [3, 10, 11] and pea seeds are consumed by humans principally as green immature seeds [7, 11]. Phenolic acids are the most important and the largest group of antioxidants in terms of incidence in cereal grains [6, 10, 11] and peas [7].…”

Influence of breadmaking on antioxidant capacity of gluten free breads based on rice and buckwheat flours

“…Buckwheat has been reported to possess higher antioxidant activity than other cereals, mainly due to high rutin content (Holasova et al, 2002;Takahama, Tanaka, & Hirota, 2010). Rutin and its hemisynthetic derivatives exert different biological effects like normalization of increased vascular permeability and fragility, edema protection and antioxidant and antihemorrhagic properties (Hung & Morita, 2008).…”