Spelt (Triticum aestivum ssp. spelta) as a source of breadmaking flours and bran naturally enriched in oleic acid and minerals but not phytic acid.

The nutritional value of breadmaking cereal spelt (Triticum aestivum ssp. spelta) is said to be higher than that of common wheat (Triticum aestivum ssp. vulgare), but this traditional view is not substantiated by scientific evidence. In an attempt to clarify this issue, wholemeal and milling fractions (sieved flour, fine bran, and coarse bran) from nine dehulled spelt and five soft winter wheat samples were compared with regard to their lipid, fatty acid, and mineral contents. In addition, tocopherol (a biochemical marker of germ) was measured in all wholemeals, whereas phytic acid and phosphorus levels were determined in fine bran and coarse bran samples after 1 month of storage. Results showed that, on average, spelt wholemeals and milling fractions were higher in lipids and unsaturated fatty acids as compared to wheat, whereas tocopherol content was lower in spelt, suggesting that the higher lipid content of spelt may not be related to a higher germ proportion. Although milling fractionation produced similar proportions of flour and brans in spelt and wheat, it was found that ash, copper, iron, zinc, magnesium, and phosphorus contents were higher in spelt samples, especially in aleurone-rich fine bran and in coarse bran. Even though phosphorus content was higher in spelt than in wheat brans, phytic acid content showed the opposite trend and was 40% lower in spelt versus wheat fine bran, which may suggest that spelt has either a higher endogenous phytase activity or a lower phytic acid content than wheat. The results of this study give important indications on the real nutritional value of spelt compared to wheat. Moreover, they show that the Ca/Fe ratio, combined with that of oleate/palmitate, provides a highly discriminating tool to authenticate spelt from wheat flours and to face the growing issue of spelt flour adulteration. Finally, they suggest that aleurone differences, the nature of which still needs to be investigated, may account for the differential nutrient composition of spelt and wheat.

Spelt (Triticum spelta L.) and winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) wholemeals have similar sterol profiles, as determined by quantitative liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry analysis.

From a nutritional point of view, cereal lipids include valuable molecules, such as essential fatty acids, phytosterols, and fat-soluble vitamins. Spelt (Triticum spelta L.) is an alternative hulled bread cereal mostly grown in Belgium, where it is mainly intended for animal feed but should increasingly be used for human consumption. The present research focused on phytosterol quantification by LC/APCI-MS2 in saponified wholemeal extracts of 16 dehulled spelt and 5 winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) varieties grown in Belgium during 2001-2002 at the same location. Glycosylated sterols and free and formerly esterified sterols could be determined in saponified extracts. Results show that the mean phytosterol content is comparable in both cereals (whereas other lipids, such as oleic and linoleic acids, are increased in spelt wholemeal): spelt extract has, on average, 527.7 microg of free and esterified sterols g(-1) of wholemeal and 123.8 microg of glycosylated sterols g(-1) of wholemeal versus 528.5 and 112.6 microg x g(-1) in winter wheat (values not corrected for recoveries). This is the first report on the application and validation of an LC/MS2 method for the quantification of phytosterols in spelt and winter wheat.

Ascorbate potentiates the cytotoxicity of menadione leading to an oxidative stress that kills cancer cells by a non-apoptotic caspase-3 independent form of cell death.

Hepatocarcinoma cells (TLT) were incubated in the presence of ascorbate and menadione, either alone or in combination. Cell death was only observed when such compounds were added simultaneously, most probably due to hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) generated by ascorbate-driven menadione redox cycling. TLT cells were particularly sensitive to such an oxidative stress due to its poor antioxidant status. DNA strand breaks were induced by this association but this process did not correspond to oligosomal DNA fragmentation (a hallmark of cell death by apoptosis). Neither caspase-3-like DEVDase activity, nor processing of procaspase-3 and cleavage of poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) were observed in the presence of ascorbate and menadione. Cell death induced by such an association was actively dependent on protein phosphorylation since it was totally prevented by preincubating cells with sodium orthovanadate, a tyrosine phosphatase inhibitor. Finally, while H2O2, when administered as a bolus, strongly enhances a constitutive basal NF-kappaB activity in TLT cells, their incubation in the presence of ascorbate and menadione results in a total abolition of such a constitutive activity.