Sprouting and Hydrolysis as Biotechnological Tools for Development of Nutraceutical Ingredients from Oat Grain and Hull

Oat consumption has increased during the last decade because of the health benefits associated with its soluble dietary fiber (β-glucan), functional proteins, lipids, and the presence of specific phytochemicals, such as avenanthramides. Oat is consumed mainly as whole grain, and the hull (seed coat), comprising 25–35% of the entire grain, is removed, generating a large amount of waste/by-product from the milling industry. The objective of this study was to evaluate the use of biotechnological strategies, such as sprouting for oat grain (OG) and hydrolysis for oat hull (OH), to enhance antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties and lower the glycemic index (GI). Sprouting produced significant (p ≤ 0.05) increases in free (32.10 to 76.62 mg GAE (100 g)(−1)) and bound phenols (60.45 to 124.36 mg GAE (100 g)(−1)), increasing significantly (p ≤ 0.05) the avenanthramide (2c, 2p and 2f) soluble phenolic alkaloid content and anti-inflammatory properties of OG. On the other hand, the hydrolysis of OH using Viscoferm (EH2-OH) and Ultraflo XL (EH21-OH) increased by 4.5 and 5-fold the release of bound phenols, respectively; meanwhile, the use of Viscoferm increased the 4.55-fold soluble β-glucan content in OH, reaching values close to those of OG (4.04 vs. 4.46 g (100 g)(−1)). The study shows the potential of both strategies to enhance the nutritional and bioactive properties of OG and OH and describes these processes as feasible for the industry to obtain an ingredient with high antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities. Single or combined biotechnological tools can be used on oat grains and hulls to provide nutraceutical ingredients.