Functional Ingredients in Minor Grain Crops

Dear Colleagues,

Grain crops can be generally divided into two groups: major grain crops (including wheat, rice, corn, and soybean) and minor grain crops. There are so many minor grain crops used worldwide, such as barley, buckwheat, millet, oat, quinoa, sorghum, and many legumes (adzuki bean, broad bean, pea, etc.). Dozens of functional ingredients, such as flavonoids, saponin, peptide, polysaccharide, and resistant starch, have been found in minor grain crops. In recent years, food products based on minor grain crops have increasingly been favored by consumers due to their functional ingredients. Therefore, it is very important to find out efficient methods to identify and quantify the functional ingredients, as well as explain their possible health benefits for humans.

All researchers are invited to submit their original and high-quality research articles or reviews concerning the functional ingredients in minor grain crops to this Special Issue.

Topics covered in this Special Issue include (but are not limited to):

1. Identification and chemical structure analysis
2. Development of alternative quantification method
3. Structure and bioactivity changes during processing and preservation
4. In vitro and in vivo evaluation of biological properties and related mechanisms
5. Interaction between genes and environment

Prof. Dr. Guixing Ren
Prof. Dr. Liang Zou
Guest Editors

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