Ferulic Acid (Spring ACS, Pizza, the Slow Rise, and Phenolics)

The American Chemical Society is having its Spring meeting as we speak. One neat thing about a meeting that tries to take on as broad a field as "chemistry" is that there's all kinds of stuff there. Some of it trickles out to the mainstream media - usually picked up by a science reporter (or maybe a university with some PR savvy). This often has a lot to do with the mass appeal or "sellability" of the story the researchers have. Hear me right, this isn't to impugn the science of people who get written up in the press one bit! It's just that most people don't want to pick up the paper and read about spin dynamics or resonance energy transfer. What's something just about everyone can get behind? Pizza!

Jeffrey Moore from Liangli Lu's group at University of Maryland presented some work on antioxidants in bread doughs. Here's the abstract:

Improving the antioxidant properties of wheat is one potential strategy to improve its health promoting properties. The first part of this research developed a high-throughput fluorometric hydroxyl radical scavenging capacity (HOSC) assay, the first validated with electron spin resonance to generate pure hydroxyl radicals. The second part of this research developed both enzymatic and fermentation post-harvest solid-state treatments which were able to significantly improve the extractable and potentially bioavailable antioxidant properties of wheat bran including up to 450% increase extractable antioxidant properties and release of 50% of insoluble bound ferulic acid. The final part of this research evaluated the processing effects of bran particle size, fermentation, and baking on wheat antioxidant properties using a pizza crust model, and found baking to have the most significant effect. This research demonstrates the potential of solid-state enzyme and fermentation post-harvest treatments, and optimized processing conditions to improve the antioxidant properties of whole-wheat.

When you realize you can work on "pizza crust models," it makes you reconsider your life choices up to now. As I mentioned before, popular appeal drives popular science writing. The combination of pizza and health is a no-brainer, and lots of places have picked it up.

Unfortunately, I'm not up in Chicago, so I can't drop by and say hi, but the abstract does mention one antioxidant specifically: ferulic acid.

Ferulic acid is a member of an enormous class of antioxidants known as phenolics; it can react with reactive oxygen species (such as the studied hydroxyl radical, HO^.), which, many speculate, can inhibit the progress of certain aging and disease processes.

It is used for a more mundane application as well; Kraft has a patent on its use as a bitterness inhibitor for use with artificial sweeteners.

The idea of extended fermentation in bread doughs isn't new, but it is enjoying a resurgence. In France, the "baguette de tradition," with an extended fermentation time, is enjoying a resurgence. On this side of the pond, advocates of so-called "artisan" bread, such as Peter Reinhart, are championing the slow-rise. Via native enzymes in flour or added malt flour (most commercially available flour contains on the order of 1000ppm malted barley flour), enzymes produce sugars and oligosaccharides during the fermentation process. An extended fermentation produces more simple carbohydate, which, In addition to providing a ready energy source for yeast, provides a substrate for reactions such as the Maillard reaction, which is responsible for much of the interesting flavor in anything browned or toasted.

It's nice to know slow-rise might be useful for more than just flavor.