COMPOSITION

Carbohydrates: Amongst carbohydrates of wheat, practically all of the starch is in the endosperm, while the soluble sugars are costly found in the germ. The carbohydrates of bran are largely cellulose and hemi cellulose.

Minerals: Wheat is a good source of mineral nutrients. It contains a significant amount of iron, phosphorus, magnesium, manganese, copper and zinc. Whole wheat is a good source of thiamine and nicotinic acid, but is relatively poor in riboflavin.

Protein: The proteins of wheat may be divided into two major groups-the non-gluten protein albumins and globulins, and gluten proteins (mainly gliadins, glutenins and insoluble residual proteins. Wheat proteins are rich in glutamic acid and low in tryptophan. Glutamic acid and aspartic acid are present in the amide form as glutamine and asparagine. The high concentration of amide is important in determining the characteristic of the gluten. The bran and germ proteins have a higher content of essential amino acids than the inner endosperm proteins. Thus the biological value of endosperm proteins is much less than that of the whole wheat protein.

Lipids: The wheat germ oil is produced commercially and it is rich in vitamin E. The oil is also rich in essential fatty acids.