Health Benefits of Minor Cereals

It would be impossible to conceive a world in which cereals and their derived products were not at the heart of food systems, either as a source of food or feed, or for other purposes, like fibre and fuel production. In this chapter, the authors provided an overview of the current state of scientific evidence on the positive contributions of minor cereals to human health; identified the chemical and nutraceutical compositions as well as the health beneficial properties of such minor cereals. They focused on the potential beneficial health effects of Barley, Oats, Rye, Einkorn, Emmer, Spelt, Triticale, and Tritordeum, presenting invaluable insights for the different actors, from scientists to consumers, passing through the first and second processing food industries. After a brief introduction on minor cereals, the authors reviewed for each minor cereal species investigated their classification, origin, history and utilization. Chemical and nutraceutical compositions, functional properties, health-promoting properties and relative effects are reported and discussed. From time to time, information and data currently present in the literature on the various topics are discussed. Finally, the conclusions and future prospects are drawn.