ABSTRACT
Cereals are the most cultivated crops around the world with a total production of around 2,723,878,753 t by 2017. During the processing of cereals, most industries only use grains for human and animal feeding purposes, and the rest of the plant, namely stalks, husk, and leaves, are usually considered as waste. Agro-industrial waste is not usually adequately treated and discarded. Thus, it is an important source of contamination. As an attempt to alleviate food waste contamination, several studies have been conducted to find an economically profitable use of this waste. Most studies have pointed out that cereal by-products are the main source of nutraceutical ingredients such as dietary fiber constituents like lignin, hemicellulose, and cellulose, among others. The components of dietary fiber have attracted much attention because they are the majoritarian compounds found in food waste and due to their reported prebiotic properties. This chapter aims to comprehensively review the latest reports on the bioactive potential of dietary fiber components obtained from cereal by-products.
