Wheat aleurone, due to its potentially higher bioaccessibility and bioavailability of micronutrients and phenolic acids, could represent a useful ingredient in the production of commonly consumed cereal-based food. The aim of the present study was to investigate the in vitro bioaccessibility of phenolic acids both from an aleurone-enriched bread and from a whole grain bread. The two bread samples were firstly characterized for the phenolic acid content. An in vitro digestion was then performed in order to evaluate the release of phenolic acids. The results obtained suggest that the bioaccessibility of the phenolic acids in the aleurone-enriched bread is higher than in the whole grain bread. These in vitro results suggest the potential use of aleurone in the production of foods, and this may represent an attractive possibility to vehicle nutritionally interesting components to consumers.
Keywords: aleurone; bioaccessibility; ferulic acid; whole grain bread.