Technological and analytical aspects of bioactive compounds and nutraceuticals from cereal processing byproducts

Cereals and cereal processing byproducts have received wide attention in recent years due to the associated health benefits. Cereals are rich in bioactive compounds which have been directly linked to the prevention of different cancers and cardiovascular diseases and to the proper physiological functions in the human body. Cereal and cereal products are rich sources of biologically active compounds such as tocopherols, tocotrienols, dietary fiber, (arabinoxylans, b-glucans, cellulose, lignin, and lignans), sterols, phenolic acids, vitamins, and minerals. Cereals are milled before processing and the rich byproducts have, however, remained unexplored and the extraction and re-processing of these physiologically beneficial components are, therefore, vital and need of the hour. Different extraction processes including solvent extraction, maceration, supercritical fluid extraction (SFE), etc., are widely used to fractionate the biologically active compounds. This chapter details different bioactive compounds in cereals and their byproducts, associated health benefits, and the extraction processes used.