Phytic acid content in milled cereal products and breads

Phytic acid was determined in cereal (brans, flours and milled wheat-products) and breads. The method was based on complexometric titration of residual iron (III) after phytic acid precipitation. The cereal flours showed values ranged between 3-4 mg/g for soft wheats, 9 mg/g for hard wheat and 22 mg/g for whole wheat. Corn, millet and sorghum flours reported a mean of 10 mg/g and oat, rice, rye and barley between 4 and 7 mg/g. Wheat brans had wide ranges (25-58 mg/g). The phytic acid for oat brans was half that of wheat bran (20 mg/g) and higher value (58 mg/g) than that for rice bran. The milling products (semolinas) from hard wheat exhibited 10 mg/g and soft wheat a mean of 23 mg/g. The breads made with single or mixture cereal flours exhibited ranges between 1.5 and 7.5 mg/g. The loss of phytic acid relative to unprocessed flours was between 20% for oat bread and 50% for white bread. (C) 1999 Canadian Institute of Food Science and Technology. Published by Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.