Anthocyanin quantity in sprouted seeds for food

Abstract

In order to compete in the global market, to ensure the long-term viability of the country's economy and stability in Lithuania, it is necessary to produce food products of high-value and an exceptional quality. Seed sprouting is one the processing methods increasing their nutritional value. The supply of sprouted seeds for human consumption is increasing. Various supermarkets provide different types of organic seeds (Kordusiene S., et al., 2010). Different kinds of seeds can be sprouted for food. Only the seeds of the Solanaceae family and Fabaceae family, Lathyrus genus are not recommended to be sprouted. During seed sprouting, the concentration of proteins, dietary minerals and biologically active compounds is the highest in comparison with other growth stages of a plant. Flavonoids are one of the most important. They all have an antioxidative effect which is much stronger than vitamin C (Samuoliene G., et. at., 2011). There is not enough information about the anthocyanin quantity in sprouted seeds; in Lithuania this issues has not been researched yet. From all the researched sprouted seeds for food, the abundance of flavonoids was found in lucerne and lens. Lucerne had the biggest amount of vitamin C, P as well as anthocyanins, but the least amount of dry matter, whereas, was in lens – anthocyanins, catechins and leuco-anthocyanins. In comparison with lucerne and lens, in Quinoa sprouted seeds for food the least quantities were of antioxidant compounds (Чупахина Г.Н., Масленников П.В., 2004).