Breads fortified with wholegrain cereals and seeds as source of antioxidant dietary fibre and other bioactive compounds

Antioxidant dietary fibre (DF) and bioactive compounds are considered important factors for nutritional and health-promoting properties of cereal products. Breads fortified with wholegrain cereals and seeds are increasingly demanded, making it necessary to investigate the influence of these ingredients on nutritional value of breads. The aim of this study was to assess the impact of wheat flour fortification on the composition in antioxidant DF, non-glycemic oligosaccharides, polyphenols (PC), and antioxidant activity (AA) of the final bread products. Breadmaking affected bioactive compounds in different way depending on flour composition. Although wholegrain flour was the most sensitive to breadmaking process, both multigrain and wholegrain breads stood out for their level in DF, PC and AA, whereas white bread showed higher fructan content. Results showed that replacing of refined flour with other cereals (rye, oat), fibre (wheat bran, wheat fibre) and seeds (flaxseeds, sunflower, sesame) would improve the potential health benefits of breads.Authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support from the Spanish Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (AGL2011-2774), and the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid for the predoctoral fellowship of N. Casado.Peer Reviewe