Summary: | This thorough study analyses the amounts of 43 minerals and trace elements in non-traditional wheat grains, flakes, and undigested flake portions using ICP-MS and establishes declines in their respective contents after the flake production. It also identifies appropriate dietary intakes, <i>in vitro</i> digestibility values, retention factors, and metal pollution indexes. The element contents in wheat flakes are lower than in wheat grains after the hydrothermal treatment process, and their declines are: Na (48–72%), Ce (47–72%), Sr (43–55%), Tl (33–43%), Ti (32–41%), U (31–44%), Ho (29–69%), Cr (26–64%), Zr (26–58%), Ag (25–52%), and Ca (25–46%). The flakes significantly contributed to the recommended dietary intake or adequate intake of particular elements for men of all categories as follows: Mn (143%) > Mo > Cu > Mg ≥ Cr > Fe (16%); for women: Mn (up to 183%) > Mo > Cu > Cr ≥ Mg > Fe (7–16%); for pregnant women aged 19–30: Mn (165%) > Mo > Cu > Mg > Cr (25%); and finally, for lactating women: Mn (127%) > Mo > Cu > Mg > Cr (17%). The contributions to the provisional tolerable weekly or monthly intakes of all toxic elements were established as being within the official limits. The daily intakes for non-essential elements were also calculated. The retention factors were calculated to assess the element concentrations in the undigested part using the digestibility values (87.4–90.5%). The highest retention factors were obtained for V (63–92%), Y (57–96%), Ce (43–76%), Pb (34–58%), Tl (32–70%), Ta (31–66%), and Ge (30–49%). K, Mg, P, Zn, Ba, Bi, Ga, Sb, Cu, Ni, and As appear to be released easily from flake matrices during digestion. The metal pollution index has been confirmed as being lower for non-traditional wheat flakes when compared with grains. Importantly, 15–25% of the metal pollution index assessed for native flakes remains in the undigested flake portion after <i>in vitro</i> digestion.
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