Determination of lignan profile in seeds of modern and old Italian soft wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) cultivars.

Wheat is an important component of the human diet; however, little is known about the phytochemical profiles of different wheat varieties, especially of old wheats. Among functional compounds residing in cereal grains, lignans has recently gained much attention especially for their broad spectrum of biological activities. The aim of this research was to investigate the distribution and the qualitative profile of lignans in four modern and six old Italian soft wheat cultivars, by capillary electrophoresis coupled to mass spectrometry. Total lignan content was 2.60 ± 0.21 and 5.00 ± 1.30 µg/g dry seed weight for modern and old cultivars, respectively. In particular, two lignan aglycon forms, namely secoisolariciresinol and pinoresinol, were detected in all ten investigated cultivars, whereas arctigenin, isolariciresinol and syringaresinol were exclusively identified in old wheat varieties. Significant differences between modern and old cultivars were also observed for the number of glycosidic forms. Results highlighted the high content and unique composition in lignans of old cultivars suggesting their uses into a wide range of regular and specialty food products naturally enriched with health-promoting compounds. Preliminary results on dietary fibre, carotenoids and ferulic acid contents of investigated soft wheat varieties will be also presented.