Comparison of wheat flours grown at different locations for their antioxidant properties

Flour extracts from three winter wheat varieties (‘Trego’, ‘Akron’ and ‘Platte’) grown at five testing locations were evaluated for their free radical scavenging abilities against the stable 2,2-diphenyl-1-picryhydrazyl radical (DPPH) and 2,2′-azino-di[3-ethylbenzthiazoline sulfonate] radical cation (ABTS+), and for Fe2+ chelating capacities and total phenolic contents. All flour samples showed significant DPPH scavenging activities and chelating capacities, and contained significant levels of phenolic compounds, but no flour contained detectable amount of ABTS+ scavengers. Both variety and growing location may have significant influence on the DPPH radical scavenging and chelating properties, as well as the phenolic contents of the flour samples. Pearson Correlation tests did not detect any significant correlation between a single antioxidant property of each wheat variety and a selected environmental factor, including total solar radiation, daily average solar radiation, or the hours exceeding 32 °C. The results from this study indicate the potential to produce a wheat flour rich in natural antioxidant for improving human nutrition by optimizing the growing conditions of a selected variety.