Phenolic compounds in grains, sprouts and wheatgrass of hulled and non-hulled wheat species

BACKGROUND: The use of sprouts and young plantlets in human nutrition is increasing because they often contain phytochemicals and other high value nutrients. This is also the case forwheat, although there is no literature for hulled wheat species. Thus we determined total polyphenols, phenolic acids (PAs), fibre and minerals in grains, 5-day-old sprouts and 12-day-old wheatgrass of einkorn (cv. Monlis), emmer (cvs Augeo, Rosso Rubino, Zefiro), spelt (cvs Pietro, Giuseppe), durum wheat (cv. Creso) and soft wheat (cv. Orso). RESULTS: Grains of einkorn and emmer contained twice bound PAs as compared to soft and durum wheat and spelt, with p-coumaric acid accounting for about 50% of total bound PAs. In wheatgrass, differences between species for bound PAs decreased due to a decrease in einkorn and emmerand an increase in soft and durum wheat. In all species, total phenols and free PAs increased passing fromgrains to sprouts andwheatgrass. Neutral and acid detergent fibre content increased with sprouting only in einkorn and emmer. CONCLUSION:Our evidence suggests that thegrainsof einkornandemmerandthe sproutsandwheatgrassof all Triticum species might potentially be valuable for the development of functional foods.