Table 1.

Typical range of concentrations of phytochemicals in cereal crops. * no antioxidant effect since they are bound.

Antioxidant Class	Prevalent Compounds	Main Modifications	Distribution into the Grain	Heritability Range for Total Content	Rice (O. sativa)	Wheat (T. aestivum; T. urum)	Maize (Z. mays)	Sorghum (S. bicolor L.)
Carotenoids	Lutein, Zeaxanthin, β-carotene, β-cryptoxanthin		endosperm, aleurone and germ (cereals) [66]	0.7 in pigmented wheat and durum wheats [38] and in RILs of durum wheats [57]	negligible amount [67]	4–12 μg/g [49]	blue: 0.18 μg/g; yellow: 0.13–60 μg/g [68,69]	0.02 to 0.85 μg/g [70]
Vitamin E	α and β-tocopherol, α and β-tocotrienols		aleurone, pericarp and germ (maize)		19.36–63.29 μg/g [71]			2.81–29.62 μg/g [70]
Phenolic acids	ferulic acid, coumaric acid, syringic acid, vanillic acid, caffeic	mainly ester or ether linked to cell wall polimers	aleurone and germ (maize), bran, embryo and endosperm (rice)	0.63 in tetraploid wheat collection [39]	78.83–317.4 μg/g [72]	550–1700 μg/g; 27–45 μg/g [37,39]	blue: 2.60 mg/g; yellow: 3.2 mg/g; white: 2.6 mg/g [73]; purple: 2.66–17.5 mg/g [74]	1.0–29.6 mg/g [75]
Flavonoids	apigenin derivatives	mainly conjugated (glycosides)	pericarp (maize)		886–2863 (μg rutin equivalent/g) [76]	70–110 μg/g [36]	red: 27.53 mg/g [77]	* 0–23 mg/g [78]
Anthocyanins	cyanidin 3-O-glucoside	only conjugated (glycosides)	aleurone, pericarp, cob; pericarp (maize)	0.93 in pigmented wheat and durum wheats [38]	87.54 mg (Cyanidin-3-glucoside equivalent/100 g rice grain) [72]	purple: 8–50 μg/g; red: 1–25 μg/g; blue: 80–170 μg/g [38]	blue: 0.66 mg/g; purple: 1.64 mg/g [79]; purple cob: 3.1–12.6 mg/g [79,80]	1–3 mg/g [35]