Oats are gluten-free cereals rich in dietary fiber, β-glucans, phenolic acids, flavonoids, carotenoids, vitamin E, and phytosterols. They have been used in traditional medicine for centuries to treat hyperacidity, acute pancreatitis, burns, and skin inflammation. This study assessed the nutritional and phenolic profile of oat flour (OF) and ground oat husks (OHs) from white, brown, and black hulled oat genotypes, as well as the antioxidant and antimicrobial activity of their extracts. The extracts were tested on six strains of gastrointestinal tract pathogens. OF samples had, on average, a high protein content (15.83%), fat content (6.27%), and β-glucan content (4.69%), while OH samples were rich in dietary fiber. OHs had significantly higher average total phenolic compounds compared to OF and had twice as high antioxidant capacity. Ferulic acid was predominant in all samples, followed by p-coumaric, isoferulic, vanillic, and syringic acid. The traditionally prepared OH extracts manifested the best bactericidal activity against Listeria monocytogenes, Escherichia coli, and Staphylococcus haemolyticus, while Salmonella typhimurium was the least sensitive to the bactericidal effect of all the investigated samples. Both OF and powdered OHs have potential applications in the functional food industry and pharmacy due to their bioactive compounds, their biological activity, as well as their overall nutritional profile.

The present study was carried out to demonstrate the effects of dry heat treatment (DHT) at different temperatures (100, 125, 135, 150, and 165 °C) on the nutritional and techno-functional properties of white, blue, and yellow whole grain maize flour. Results showed that DHT increased the insoluble dietary fiber and free phenolic compounds of the investigated maize flours, while the bound phenolic compounds, anthocyanins, and pasting properties decreased with the rising of the applied temperature. The application of DHT caused the most notable changes regarding the amount of dietary fiber. Content of NDF (neutral detergent fiber) ranged from 11.48% to 44.35%, 14.19% to 37.84%, and 15.15% to 45.86% in white, yellow, and blue maize samples, respectively. Furthermore, at the highest temperature applied in the DHT (165 °C) the content of soluble free phenolic compounds in yellow and blue maize flour samples was 1.2- and 1.4-fold higher compared to control flour samples. DHT significantly improved the functionality of maize flour in terms of water absorption capacity, water solubility, and digestibility, thus it can be effectively used to make up for the poor functionality of raw maize flour. This study shows that DHT at moderate temperatures (125–135 °C), could be a viable solution for the pre-processing of maize flour to enhance the potential for its utilization in the food industry.

Fusarium head blight (FHB) is one of the most devastating diseases in wheat. Besides its negative impact on grain yield, FHB also negatively influences quality. Changes in sugar and free amino acid content were analyzed in flour from Fusarium-infected and non-infected grains of six wheat varieties differing in Fusarium resistance. The concentrations of sugars and free amino acids were determined using a high-performance liquid chromatography device. In flour from FHB-infected grains, the average total amount of fructose, glucose, maltose, total sugars, and total reducing sugars was significantly increased, compared to non-treated flour from the Tika Taka variety, which was the most FHB-susceptible. The total content of free amino acids in flour from FHB-infected varieties increased in proportion to their susceptibility. In Tika Taka, there was a significant increase in free amino acid content of about 46%, while a significant decrease of 16% was observed in the highly resistant Vulkan variety. A highly significant correlation was established between the degree of FHB susceptibility and the content of aspartic acid, glutamic acid, glutamine and histidine, glycine, alanine, methionine, valine, tryptophan, phenylalanine, leucine, and threonine. Most amino acids had strong positive correlations with each other, but among the sugars, only fructose and glucose content showed a strong positive correlation with specific amino acids that were induced by Fusarium infection. Overall, it can be concluded that FHB-susceptible varieties have a high risk of FHB infection, which results in the hydrolysis of sucrose into fructose and glucose, together with an increase in free amino acids, which deteriorates the quality of wheat.