The influence of milling on the nutritive value of flour from cereal grains. 1. Rye

Rye was milled into flours having extraction rates between 100 and 65%. The nutritive value of the various fractions was studied by chemical analyses and in balance trials with rats. The concentration of essential nutrients decreased when the extraction rate was lowered. The lysine content (g/16 g N) was 4.23 in whole rye, but only 3.76 in the 65% extraction flour, and a corresponding reduction in biological value was found. A reduction of 50% or more was observed for several minerals with zinc and phosphorus being most affected. The apparent zinc absorption and retention expressed in absolute values, were significantly higher from the flours of high extraction than from the more refined flours, in spite of a much higher phytate content in whole rye and lightly milled flours. It could be concluded that milling of rye into highly refined flours not only preclude considerable amounts of nutrients from human consumption, but the remaining flours have a much poorer nutritive value than flour made from whole rye.