Chemical Composition, Fatty Acid and Mineral Content of Food-Grade White, Red and Black Sorghum Varieties Grown in the Mediterranean Environment

Grain sorghum (Sorghum bicolor) is a gluten-free cereal grown around the world and is a foodstaple in semi-arid and subtropical regions. Sorghum is a diverse crop with a range of pericarp colourincluding white, various shades of red, and black, all of which show health-promoting propertiesas they are rich sources of antioxidants such as polyphenols, carotenoids, as well as micro- andmacro-nutrients. This work examined the grain composition of three sorghum varieties possessing arange of pericarp colours (white, red, and black) grown in the Mediterranean region. To determinethe nutritional quality independent of the contributions of phenolics, mineral and fatty acid contentand composition were measured. Minor differences in both protein and carbohydrate were observedamong varieties, and a higher fibre content was found in both the red and black varieties. A higheramount of total saturated fats was found in the white variety, while the black variety had a loweramount of total unsaturated and polyunsaturated fats than either the white or red varieties. Oleic,linoleic, and palmitic were the primary fatty acids in all three analysed sorghum varieties. Significantdifferences in mineral content were found among the samples with a greater amount of Mg, K, Al,Mn, Fe, Ni, Zn, Pb and U in both red and black than the white sorghum variety. The results showthat sorghum whole grain flour made from grain with varying pericarp colours contains uniquenutritional properties.