ENHANCEMENT OF FUNCTIONAL PROPERTIES AND BIOLOGICAL ACTIVITY IN BARLEY AND WHEAT GRAINS BY GERMINATION
Abstract
In recent years, sprouted grains have become very popular and widely accepted as a functional food because of their nutritious and health benefits. So, this study was performed to evaluate the phytochemical composition, and in vitro antioxidant capacity, reducing power, antihyperglycemic and anti-inflammatory activities, of seven-day old cereal sprouts (CS): Cultivars, barley NS565 (BSNS), barley Golozrni (BSG), wheat Spelta (WSSPE), wheat Simonida (WSSIM). Phenolic compounds were the most dominant bioactives in all CS. BSNS expressed significantly higher (p≤ 0.05) content of total phenols, chlorophyll and carotenoids. The total flavonoids content (TFC) in CS showed that barley sprouts (BSNS, BSG) had the higher value (P≤ 0.05) than wheat sprouts (WSSPE, WSSIM) respectively. The freeze-dried sprouts powders (FDSP) extracts were screened for possible antioxidant capacities using DPPH, ABTS, and reducing power (Rp) assays. The results indicated that the BSNS possessed higher antioxidant capacities in DPPH and ABTS assays, and reducing power (IC50DPPH = 0.54 mg/ml; IC50ABTS = 0.79 mg/ml; IC0.5RP = 9.35 mg/ml) respectively. The inhibitory effect of FDSP extracts on α-glucosidase activity was investigated. The BSNS extracts exhibited higher inhibitory activity (IC50AHgA = 1.43 mg/ml) against α-glucosidase (p≤ 0.05). The anti-inflammatory activity (Denaturation of protein in vitro) showed significantly different between the FDSP, and Diclofenac sodium (DS). The IC50AIA of DS and BSNS was 0.79 and 1.86 (mg/ml) respectively. There was a strong positive correlation between TPC and antioxidant activities and reducing power, and also between TFC and anti-inflammatory activity.