Cereal Grain Quality – Micronutrients and Phytochemicals
A special issue of Life (ISSN 2075-1729). This special issue belongs to the section "Plant Science".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 October 2023) | Viewed by 1711
Special Issue Editors
Interests: research on grain chemistry and quality to improve Canadian grains (wheat, oat, barley, soybean) with respect to processing for food applications, end-use quality, nutritional benefits and crop performance
Interests: understanding the structural – activity relationship of various cereal grain components with their perceived functional or nutritional properties and how processing affects this relationship; grain processing; carbohydrate; dietary fiber; protein; phytochemistry
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
For both humans and animals, cereals are the primary source of many nutrients, including proteins, carbohydrates, fiber, vitamins, and minerals. Most quality evaluation efforts and regulations around the world focus on the macro-components of cereals, such as protein content and functionality, when evaluating the merit of cereal varieties for a specific end-use product. However, consumers are demanding food products that offer health benefits beyond their nutritional value and that are more environmentally sustainable. Therefore, this Special Issue focuses on research concerning phytochemical analyses of cereals across a broad scope. Phytochemicals are plant secondary metabolites with many critical roles, including defense against biotic and abiotic stresses. However, their existence in cereal-based food products provides extra health-promoting functionalities such as anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and anticancer properties. New-developed cereal grain varieties, as well as ancient grains, exhibit unique phytochemical profiles. Current breeding efforts aim to increase the level of these phytochemicals in new crosses in order to produce healthier cereals. On the other hand, grain/food processing would significantly affect phytochemicals’ content and functionality. Additionally, whole cereal grains are a good source of vitamins and minerals, but their concentration and bioavailability vary greatly with genotype, environment, management, and processing. Efforts to improve micronutrient quality in cereal grain through biofortification, enrichment, fortification, and bioprocessing are explored and practiced worldwide to fight hidden hunger.
This Special Issue aims to highlight any recent research regarding phytochemical and micronutrient analyses of cereals and the investigation of their functionalities.
Dr. Mehri Hadinezhad
Dr. Lovemore Nkhata Malunga
Guest Editors
Manuscript Submission Information
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Keywords
- cereal phytochemicals
- phytochemical analyses
- antioxidant activity
- processing effect on phytochemicals
