Cereals and pomegranate: insight into their phenols and polysaccharides

This PhD work started as a continuation of my master’s thesis in pharmacy, with the title “Millet from Burkina Faso: evaluation of bioactive compounds before and after fermentation”. Under the guidance of Professors Nadia Mulinacci and Marzia Innocenti I was involved in the NUTRATOSCAFRICA project, born with the aim of finding a correlation between daily-consumed African cereals and a greater protection against gastrointestinal diseases. Within the NUTRATOSCAFRICA project my research group was involved in evaluating the phenolic compounds in cereals before and after fermentation. Cereals represent the first chapter of my PhD thesis, with particular attention on modern and ancient wheat species, millet as a rediscovered crop and fermentation as a useful technique to improve the nutritional value of cereals. The main goals in working with cereals have been: Optimization of extractive procedures to accurately estimate the phenolic amount in cereals, focusing attention on bound phenols. Our newly investigated approach proposes a single extraction step in acidic conditions. Evaluation of phenolic content in cereal samples before and after fermentation. Systematic comparison, in terms of phenolic compounds, between ancient and modern wheat species grown in the same agronomical condition. In vitro biological tests to evaluate the antidiabetic, prebiotic, and anti-inflammatory activity of our extracts. The second chapter of my PhD thesis is focused on pomegranate. In particular, my work investigated phenolic and polysaccharides fractions. In this context, part of the project was carried out at the University of Aveiro, Portugal, in the last year of my PhD, thanks to a collaboration with Professor Manuel Coimbra. The aim was to improve my knowledge about polysaccharides. The main goals regarding pomegranate have been: Evaluation of phenolic composition of both peel and arils of a new Spanish pomegranate cultivar, Purple Queen®, grown on different sediments dredged from the port of Livorno, Italy. Systematic comparison of the phenolic composition of fifteen different pomegranate varieties, grown in the same nursery. A focus on polysaccharides of three widespread pomegranate varieties. This work is still on going.