Phytate reduction in sorghum grains cultivated in Saudi Arabia

Abstract Sorghum grains are the leading cereal crop in Saudi Arabia and act as the principal source of energy, protein, vitamins, minerals, and polyphenols. The flour is mixed with wheat flour to prepare bread. This study was carried out to investigate the effect of soaking sorghum grains on reducing their phytate content and increasing their mineral availability. The results showed that the soaking process in either acidic solution or deionized water reduces phytate contents in sorghum grains during soaking at 20 °C and 50 °C for 72 h. But, soaking at 50 °C reduced phytate more than soaking at 20 °C for all samples. Also, the soaking solution at pH 5 was more effective in reducing phytate than all of the others for both 20 °C and 50 °C. Some minerals, like Fe, P, Zn, and Ca, were determined as indicators of phytate reduction and bioavailability of these minerals in soaking media. The results showed that all minerals were reduced as a function of phytate reduction in soaking media. The highest losses of Fe, P, and Zn were 49.39, 80.0, and 68.55% when grains were soaked in pH 5 solutions at 50 °C for 72 h. While the highest loss of Ca was 58.22% for grains soaked in pH 3 solutions at 50 °C for 72 h. Although after soaking at pH 5 and 50 °C for 72 hours, the losses of soluble minerals are high, but mineral availability is acceptable and within the limits.