Study Discovers New Grain Antioxidants

Breakfast cereals, baked goods such as crackers, and other snack foods including popcorn, have been found to be an unexpected source of polyphenol antioxidants, according to recent research in the USA.

Researchers at the University of Scranton, Pennsylvania, who had previously studied the polyphenols in chocolate, have suggested that the polyphenol content of a wide range of grain-based products are potentially more important than their fibre content.

“Breakfast cereals, pasta, crackers and salty snacks constitute over 66 per cent of whole grain intake in the US diet,” noted research leader Joe Vinson, a recognised expert on the polyphenols in chocolate. “Whole grains provide around 10 per cent of daily per capita polyphenol intake in the US diet. We found that, in fact, whole grain products have comparable antioxidants per gram to fruit and vegetables.”

While previous studies had measured free oxidants in such foods, Vinson said that this was the first study to examine total phenol antioxidants in cereals and grain-based snacks. He added: “Ferulic acid is the major phenolic acid found in grains. We have shown they are six to ten times better than vitamins C and E in protecting lipoproteins in our ‘heart disease in a test tube’ model. Whole grain extracts are also better antioxidants than the vitamins.”

Whole grain breakfast cereals found to have the most antioxidants by serving size are oat-based. While these have similar amounts to corn (maize), wheat has lower levels and rice lower still. With 524mg/serving, raisin bran had the highest amount among the products tested, but Vinson said much of this was from the raisins. Popcorn was also found to have surprisingly high levels.

By comparison, at average US consumption levels, coffee provides 691 mg/day, while tea provides 302 and dark chocolate 103, Vinson said.

…