Phytochemical Profiling and Untargeted Metabolite Fingerprinting of the MEDWHEALTH Wheat, Barley and Lentil Whole-Meal Flours

An important target of research is the improvement of the health benefits of traditional Mediterranean durum wheat-based foods using innovative raw materials. In this study, we characterized the whole-meal flours obtained from a traditional durum wheat cv. Svevo, two innovative durum wheat varieties (Svevo-High Amylose and Faridur), the naked barley cv. Chifaa and the elite lentil line 6002/ILWL118/1-1, evaluating them for targeted phytochemicals, untargeted metabolomics fingerprints and antioxidant capacity. To this aim, individual phenolic acids, flavonoids, tocochromanols and carotenoids were identified and quantified through HPLC-DAD, and the antioxidant capacities of both the extracts and wholemeals were detected by ABTS assays. An untargeted metabolomics fingerprinting of the samples was conducted through NMR spectroscopy. Results showed that the innovative materials had improved phytochemical profiles and antioxidant capacity compared to Svevo. In par-ticular, Svevo-HA and Faridur had higher contents of ferulic acid and sinapic acid, ?-Tocotrienol and lutein. Moreover, Chifaa resulted a rich source of phenolic acids, ?-tocopherols, lutein and zeaxanthin, and lentil of flavonoids (i.e. chatechin and procyanidin B2). The NMR profiles of Svevo-HA and Faridur showed a significant reduction of sugar content, malate and tryptophan when compared to Svevo. Finally, substantial differences characterized the lentil profiles especially for citrate, trigonelline and phenolic resonances of secondary metabo-lites, such as catechin-like compounds. Overall, the present results support the potential of the above innovative materials to renewing the health value of traditional Mediterranean durum wheat based products.