Pasta represents an identifying ingredient of traditional healthy dishes, in particular in Mediterranean areas. Traditional pasta is made with durum wheat semolina only. However, pasta manufactured with different cereals has become available on the market and its consumption is rapidly increasing.

Five experimental dry pastas, manufactured with the same process by adding 60% wholegrain flours of different cereals (wheat, oat, rye, barley and rice) to the same durum wheat semolina, were supplied by Pavan s.p.a. (Galliera Veneta, PD, Italy).

For each product, aqueous-organic extracts and their residues were studied. Their antioxidant properties were evaluated by FRAP (Ferric Reducing Antioxidant Power) assay and Total Polyphenols Content (TPC) was determined by the Folin Ciocalteau method.

For cooked experimental wholegrain pastas made with different cereals, FRAP values ranged from 3.26 ± 0.08 µmol/g d.w. to 19.52 ± 1.28 µmol/g d.w. in aqueous-organic extracts and from 17.91 ± 2.83 µmol/g d.w. to 87.83 ± 5.06 µmol/g d.w. in residues. In both raw and cooked products the lowest FRAP values were found for semolina/60% whole rice pasta.

The barley pasta has interesting antioxidant properties and this result was matched by the TPC one.

Practical Application

The interest in more nutritious and potentially functional foods has prompted the cereal industry towards new formulations of wholegrain products. The functional properties of minor cereals have been poorly investigated. Our results show that wholegrain pastas made with different cereals are rich in antioxidants, in particular whole barley based pasta, providing a scientific basis for the development of grain s based functional foods.

Then the study of free and bond bioactive compounds could be crucial to describe the potential of grains, with the aim of better understanding potential health benefits of wholegrain based food consumption.