Based on accumulating evidence, adequate intake of whole grains is associated with reduced cardiovascular disease CVD risk. Germinated brown rice (GBR) has been used in East Asian countries as an alternative grain. Preliminary studies suggest GBR has potential health benefits, including reducing CVD risk, but the mechanism remains unclear. The hypothesis of the project is that long-term consumption of GBR would reduce atherogenic risk factors in low-density lipoprotein receptor knockout (LDLr-KO) mice. To test the hypothesis, three groups of male LDLr-KO mice were fed with one of the following diets for 24 weeks: (a) commercial mouse chow, used as the control diet; (b) chow was replaced with 60% (w/w) Chinese white rice (CWR); and (c) chow was replaced with 60% (w/w) GBR. All diets were supplemented with 0.06% (w/w) dietary cholesterol to accelerate atherogenesis. Blood samples, hearts, livers and feces were collected and used for biochemical and histological analyses. The results demonstrated that no significant difference was detected in body weights, plasma or fecal lipid profiles and antioxidant enzyme activities among groups. However, GBR consumption significantly decreased atherosclerotic lesion (P = 0.003) in the aortic roots as compared with that in the CWR group, but there was no significant difference as compared with that in the control group (P = 0.4). In addition, GBR significantly decreased monocyte adhesion to the aorta in LDLr-KO mice as compared to that in the CWR group (P=0.0001), but not with the control group. These data suggested that GBR may be beneficial for the prevention of vascular inflammation and atherogenesis in LDLr-KO mice. Additional studies in animal models and humans may further investigate the mechanisms of the beneficial effects of GBR on vascular inflammation and atherogenesis. / May 2017

Master of Science / Department of Grain Science and Industry / Rebecca A. Regan / A laboratory-scale method for wheat germination was developed and used to compare hard red winter wheat varieties for sprout related attributes, activity, and whole wheat bread baking performance. WB 4458, WB Grainfield, LCS Mint, LCS Wizard, SY Monument, and T158 wheat varieties grown in three Kansas locations were germinated with the developed small-scale germination method and falling number values were compared. Byrd, Tam 204, and T158 were germinated with a scaled-up germination method aimed at generating samples in three falling number ranges of less than 120 seconds (low falling number and highly sprouted), 250±40 seconds (medium falling number), and 350±40 seconds (high falling number and low sprouting). Controls were un-germinated, sound (>400 seconds falling number), samples of each variety. The control whole grain and sprouted wheat was ground into flour. A mixograph was used to determine dough water absorption and mixing time. Whole wheat bread was made to determine bread volume, crumb characteristics, and bread texture. Overall there were few significant differences within each wheat variety for the different levels of germination. The only significant difference observed in all three varieties was that each highly sprouted grain (<120 seconds falling number) produced bread with significantly lower elasticity than the control within each variety, indicating that this level of germination produced a gummier bread. Elasticity was positively correlated with falling number (r=+0.71). A focused analysis on the Byrd variety compared the germinated samples to samples generated with added malted barley to the same falling number ranges. RVA analysis showed the gelatinization profiles for germinated and malted samples were similar within each falling number range. The highly and medium sprouted grain had significantly lower dough water absorption than the malted counterparts for those levels and the medium sprouted grain also had a lower mix time then the malted sample. There were no significant differences in bread volume, crumb characteristics, or bread texture except the highly sprouted grain had significantly lower elasticity than the control and the malted counterpart was not significantly different. In general, this experiment demonstrated that variety and germination conditions are important considerations in sprouting wheat and that whole wheat flour made from a wide range of germination levels produced quality bread that was not different from the control for most of the parameters investigated.

Brown rice is a food ingredient which has high nutritious values. During germination, some nutritious and functional components are increased such as lysine, vitamin E, B1, B6, magnesium, calcium, iron… and especially γ – amino butyric acid. Enzyme activity will also change during the germination of the grains. The α – amylase activity of ungerminated grains is very low, only 34.91 UI/g. This is because the enzyme is hibernating and not activated. During germination, enzyme activity will increase. Submerge the Anhdao brown glutinous rice for 6 hours at 30oC in solutions with different pH values (2.0, 3.0, 4.0, 5.0, 6.0). The results show that at pH 3.0 the activity of α – amylase enzyme reaches the highest value of 82.93 UI/g. After the submersion, incubate the germinated brown rice in unentirely anaerobic condition at different temperature of 25, 30, 35, 37oC. The result showed that at 35oC after 24 hours of incubation, the α – amylase activity reaches the highest value of 89.82 UI/g. Examine the dynamic of changes of α – amylase activity against time at 35oC, we can see that in the first 28 hours the α – amylase activity increased significantly. Highest α – amylase activity reaches 97.10 UI/g after 28 hours of incubation. In reality, people usually use enzyme from germinated grains for many food manufacturing industries. α – amylase activity increases during incubation, which can bring promising prospects for processing sugar syrup and prebiotics food from germinated rice. / Gạo lứt là một nguyên liệu thực phẩm có giá trị dinh dưỡng cao. Trong quá trình nảy mầm các thành phần dinh dưỡng và chức năng của hạt gạo lứt được tăng lên ví dụ như lysine, các vitamin E, B1, B6, magie, canxi, sắt… và đặc biệt là γ – amino butyric acid. Hoạt tính của hệ enzyme sẽ thay đổi trong suốt quá trình nảy mầm của hạt gạo. Hoạt tính enzyme α – amylase của hạt gạo chưa nảy mầm là rất thấp, chỉ đạt 34,91UI/g, do enzyme của hạt đang ở trạng thái ngủ chưa được kích hoạt. Trong quá trình nảy mầm thì hoạt tính của α – amylase tăng lên. Tiến hành ngâm gạo lứt giống nếp Anh Đào trong 6 tiếng, ở 30oC trong nước ngâm có pH khác nhau (pH 2.0, 3.0, 4.0, 5.0, 6.0). Kết quả cho thấy, ở pH 3.0 hoạt độ enzyme α – amylase cao nhất đạt 82,93 UI/g. Sau quá trình ngâm, tiến hành ủ nẩy mầm gạo lứt yếm khí không hoàn toàn ở những nhiệt độ khác nhau 25, 30, 35, 37oC, kết quả ở 35oC sau 24 giờ ủ hoạt độ enzyme α – amylase đạt cao nhất là 89,82 UI/g. Khảo sát động học sự thay đổi của hoạt độ enzyme α – amylase theo thời gian ở nhiệt độ ủ 35oC, kết quả cho thấy,trong 28 giờ đầu hoạt độ của α – amylase tăng mạnh. Hoạt độ α – amylase cao nhất đạt 97,10 UI/g sau 28 giờ ủ. Trong thực tế người ta đã sử dụng enzyme từ hạt nảy mầm cho rất nhiều ngành sản xuất thực phẩm. Hoạt độ của α-amylase sau quá trình ủ mầm tăng lên, có thể đem lại triển vọng sử dụng để chế biến dịch đường và các sản phẩm có tính prebiotic từ gạo lứt nảy mầm.