Germination of Cereal Grains as a Way to Improve the Nutritional Value: A Review

Whole grain cereals have been found to be a good source of nutritionally valuable substances, such as antioxidants, minerals, vitamins, and dietary fiber. A wide range of these compounds is affected by germination. While some compounds, such as beta-glucans are degraded, others, like vitamins can be increased by means of malting. Therefore, germination and malting of cereals is a way not only to produce fermentable extract for the brewing and distilling industries, but can also be a way to produce ingredients enriched with health promoting compounds. Malt extracts have also been shown to be good substrates for the growth and application of probiotic bacteria.