Functionality and Application of Colored Cereals: Nutritional, Bioactive, and Health Aspects

Functionality and Application of Colored Cereals: Nutritional, Bioactive and Health Aspects is the first book to focus on exploiting the full and functional possibilities of those grains. From their physical chemistry to their health benefits, this book highlights those cereals with the greatest potential for enhanced products.

Plant-based food colorants play an important role in conferring colors to food to increase its attractiveness toward consumers, improve appetite, minimize synthetic colorants, and even conform to the food culture. Over the last decades, the presence of anthocyanin and other bioactive compounds in colored (black, purple, blue, pink, red, and brown) cereal grains (maize, rice, wheat, barley, sorghum, millet, and rye) have attracted the attention of various food processors and researchers. Colored cereals are imperative for food processing industries as high-value pigments present in the bran layer can easily be extracted and utilized as functional foods and natural colorants. The extracted pigments such as anthocyanin can replace synthetic dyes currently used in food, drug, and cosmetics. Additionally, natural additives improve the nutritional value, appearance, texture, flavor, and storage properties of food products. Colored cereals can promote health and fight diseases and have been found to have antioxidant, antihypertensive, antidiabetic, anti-inflammatory, and analgesic effects.

The invention of newer technologies to enrich cereals color to enhance their use, health potential, and consumer acceptability has been the focus area that needs the utmost attention from cereal technologists. This book addresses that need in a comprehensive reference ideal for researchers, academics and professionals in product development.