DEVELOPING GERMINATED AND FALSE-GERMINATED OATS AS NOVEL FUNCTIONAL FOODS

The goal of this project is to develop germinated and false-germinated oats as novel value added oat products for consumers to prevent and combat chronic diseases, such as inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and its associated colorectal cancer. Based on the literature and our preliminary data, the hypothesis of this project is that germination and false-germination significantly increase the formation of the major anti-inflammatory phytochemicals in oat seeds and therefore enhance the anti-inflammatory activity of oat. This hypothesis will be tested by the following specific objectives. Objective 1 is to optimize the germination conditions to enrich the major oat phytochemicals (AVAs, steroidal saponins and triterpenoid saponins). Objective 2 is to optimize the false-germination conditions to enrich the major oat phytochemicals. Objective 3 is to determine how oat cultivar affects the changes of the major oat phytochemicals during germination and false-germination. Objective 4 is to investigate whether germinated and false-germinated oats have a stronger anti-inflammatory effects than regular oats in cells and in mice.