Triticeae Genomics and Genetics, 2025, Vol.16, No.5, 203-211 http://cropscipublisher.com/index.php/tgg 203 Research Insight Open Access Enhancing the Nutritional Components of Wheat for the Development of Functional Foods Jiamin Wang, Jin Zhang Hainan Provincial Key Laboratory of Crop Molecular Breeding, Sanya, 572025, Hainan, China Corresponding email: jin.zhang@hitar.org Triticeae Genomics and Genetics, 2025, Vol.16, No.5 doi: 10.5376/tgg.2025.16.0022 Received: 30 Jul., 2025 Accepted: 09 Sep., 2025 Published: 23 Sep., 2025 Copyright © 2025 Wang and Zhang, This is an open access article published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Preferred citation for this article: Wang J.M., and Zhang J., 2025, Enhancing the nutritional components of wheat for the development of functional foods, Triticeae Genomics and Genetics, 16(5): 203-211 (doi: 10.5376/tgg.2025.16.0022) Abstract As an important food crop in the world, wheat is not only the main source of energy supply, but also an important basic raw material for the development of functional foods. This study systematically reviewed the composition characteristics of key nutrients in wheat (such as protein, dietary fiber, iron, zinc, selenium, etc.) and their potential benefits to human health, and explored feasible paths to improve the nutritional quality of wheat through traditional breeding, biofortification, gene editing and other strategies. At the same time, the influence mechanism of different agronomic management measures (such as soil nutrient optimization and irrigation control) on the accumulation of wheat nutrients was analyzed, and the application examples of high-iron and high-protein wheat in the development of functional foods in South Asia, Australia and China were summarized through case studies, verifying its great potential in improving nutrition and health and promoting market diversification. The study emphasized that in order to achieve large-scale promotion of nutritionally fortified wheat, it is necessary to comprehensively consider yield stability, consumer acceptance and the application of precision breeding technology. This study hopes to provide theoretical support and practical guidance for the innovative development of wheat functional foods. Keywords Wheat; Functional foods; Biofortification; Gene editing; Agronomic management 1 Introduction Wheat is a staple food eaten every day by many people around the world, and it plays an important role in daily diet and food security. But now, people have higher and higher requirements for food. They no longer just look at whether they can eat enough, but also hope that food can provide more balanced nutrition and bring more health benefits. Therefore, people have higher expectations for the nutritional value of wheat products-not only to replenish energy, but also to help metabolism and physiological health. This change is particularly important for solving the problems of malnutrition and nutrient deficiency, especially in some developing countries where wheat is the staple food (Saini et al., 2020; Khan et al., 2021; Melash et al., 2023; Kong et al., 2024). If you want to develop functional foods that are truly beneficial to health, it is necessary to improve the nutritional content of wheat. Functional foods not only make people full, but also bring additional health benefits. Now, researchers have found many ways to increase the content of protein, dietary fiber, antioxidants, vitamins and minerals in wheat through biofortification, genetic modification, fermentation and some new processing technologies, and also improve their utilization in the human body. For example, colored wheat varieties rich in anthocyanins and carotenoids, as well as modified wheat bran and wheat germ, these new materials have performed very well in improving the nutrition and functionality of wheat products (Onipe et al., 2021; Singh et al., 2021; Bayat et al., 2022; Wang et al., 2022; Kartseva et al., 2023; Bouchtaoui et al., 2024). These advances can not only help people better meet changing nutritional needs, but also have great significance for preventing nutrient deficiencies and chronic diseases. This study will integrate the current research progress on improving the nutritional content of wheat to develop functional foods, including global wheat consumption trends and their impact on nutritional needs, the importance of wheat nutritional fortification in functional food innovation, the latest advances in wheat biofortification, processing and fermentation technologies, and the challenges and future prospects of integrating these strategies
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