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

Paola Pontieri,Dmitriy Smolensky,Luigi Del Giudice,Fadi Aramouni,Alberto L Chessa,Michael Tilley,Scott R Bean,Matteo Calcagnile,Mariarosaria Aletta,Giacomo Pepe,Pietro Alifano,Jacopo Troisi,Pietro Campiglia,Fabio Del Giudice,Antonio Boffa

doi:10.3390/foods11030436

Abstract

Grain sorghum (Sorghum bicolor) is a gluten-free cereal grown around the world and is a food staple in semi-arid and subtropical regions. Sorghum is a diverse crop with a range of pericarp colour including white, various shades of red, and black, all of which show health-promoting properties as they are rich sources of antioxidants such as polyphenols, carotenoids, as well as micro- and macro-nutrients. This work examined the grain composition of three sorghum varieties possessing a range of pericarp colours (white, red, and black) grown in the Mediterranean region. To determine the nutritional quality independent of the contributions of phenolics, mineral and fatty acid content and composition were measured. Minor differences in both protein and carbohydrate were observed among varieties, and a higher fibre content was found in both the red and black varieties. A higher amount of total saturated fats was found in the white variety, while the black variety had a lower amount 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. Significant differences 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 show that sorghum whole grain flour made from grain with varying pericarp colours contains unique nutritional properties.

Highlights

Sorghum (Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench) is a widely consumed cereal staple in regions of Africa and Asia [1–8] and is the fifth leading cereal crop in the world, after the crops wheat, maize, rice, and barley [9]
As it has been reported that pericarp colour of sorghum grain may vary due to both genotype environmental factors [42,45,46], in this work we compared both the chemical composition and the content of fatty acids and the mineral content of three coloured varieties of sorghum grown in the Mediterranean environment of Southern Italy
It is well known that sorghum is a genetically diverse crop—that diversity extends to the presence of phenolic content and composition, and results in phenotypic expression in sorghum grain with a range of pericarp colours

Summary

Introduction

Sorghum (Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench) is a widely consumed cereal staple in regions of Africa and Asia [1–8] and is the fifth leading cereal crop in the world, after the crops wheat, maize, rice, and barley [9]. With increasing interest related to the unique properties of sorghum, its value as a food in helping to improve human health and to prevent disease has generated increasing research [1,2,4,11,15–17]. Increased research attention has focussed on the diverse content of phenolic compounds present in sorghum, which is a unique attribute among cereal grains [2]. These phenolic compounds have been shown to have various properties, e.g., inhibiting cancer cell growth [17], and while more research is needed on the health benefits of sorghum, consumption of whole grain sorghum may have the potential to help reduce health problems such as heart disease, diabetes, and obesity [16]

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