Gluten-free cereal-based food products: the potential of metabolomics to investigate changes in phenolics profile and their in vitro bioaccessibility

In recent years, the enhancement of common gluten-free (GF) cereal-based foods with ingredients rich in phytochemicals such as polyphenols (PP) is gaining interest. However, the comprehensive screening of PP is complex due to their chemical diversity, as well as because many of them are found at low concentration levels, as conjugated forms, and because they do undergo transformation by the colonic microflora. With this aim, the high-resolution mass spectrometry based metabolomics profiling may provide more inclusive information concerning the identification, quantification and dynamics of PP in complex matrices. This mini-review is focused on the potential of metabolomics in the untargeted evaluation of phenolic profile and bioaccessibility in GF cereal-based food products.