Cereal Chem. 73 (1):1-4 |
VIEW ARTICLE
Breadmaking
Changes in the Glutathione Content and Breadmaking Performance of White Wheat Flour During Short-Term Storage.
X. Chen (1) and J. D. Schofield (1,2). (1) King's College London, Division of Life Sciences, London W8 7AH, UK. (2) The University of Reading, Department of Food Science and Technology, Whiteknights, P.O. Box 226, Reading RG6 6AP, UK. Corresponding author. Fax: +44 1734 316607; E-mail: <J.D.Schofield@afnovell.reading.ac.uk> Accepted September 4, 1995. Copyright 1996 by the American Association of Cereal Chemists, Inc.
White flour milled from grain of the hard bread wheat cv. Mercia was stored at 20°C and used to monitor changes in the contents of free reduced glutathione (GSH), free oxidized glutathione (GSSG), and protein-glutathione mixed disulphides (PSSG). GSH levels fell from 149 to 85 nmol/g of flour during the first 10 days of storage, and they remained constant thereafter up to 40 days of storage. The breadmaking performance of the flour increased concomitantly with the fall in GSH content during the first 10 days of storage and again remained constant up to 40 days. The fall in GSH levels could not be accounted for in terms of either simple oxidation to GSSG or the formation of PSSG because glutathione levels in these two pools also fell during the initial 10-day period. The results indicate that the changes in glutathione levels in all three pools are closely related temporally to changes in breadmaking performance during the short-term storage of white flour. The nature of the reactions that lead to the drop in glutathione levels remains to be elucidated.