Cereal/Grain By-products

More than 3200 million tons of grains are required globally to satisfy the per capita consumption of cereals, thereby generating considerable amount of cereal wastes and by-products. An average of 400 million tons of wastes from corn, wheat, and rice harvests are burned yearly. On the other hand, industrial processing of cereals (i.e. dry milling, wet milling, decortication, other processing) generates by-products from discarding the pericarp, aleurone layer, and germ. Nowadays cereal by-products represent a source of fiber, phenolic compounds, phytosterols, policosanols, minerals, vitamins, and other phytochemicals that have been related to the promotion of health through several mechanisms, primarily reducing oxidative stress, mediating inflammatory process and lipids excretion and absorption. This chapter provides an overview of the processing and production of by-products from most consumed cereals worldwide. Relevant information is included over the content, localization, and extraction of nutraceuticals from cereal by-products and their potential impact on human health.