## 3 Results and Discussion
### Total Phenolic and Flavonoid Contents  
Total phenolic and flavonoid contents of water and 80% ethanol extracts of WS and NS cultured for 7, 9, and 11 days are exhibited in Figure 1. The total phenolic content of water and 80% ethanol extracts of both wheat sprouts increased with germination time except for the water extract of NS (Figure 1A). The content of the water extract of NS increased until 9 days of germination, but there was no significant difference between the extracts at 9 and 11 days. The total phenolic content of water extracts was higher than that of 80% ethanol extracts in each wheat sprout, but it was not significantly different between WS and NS.  
The flavonoid content of the extracts of WS and NS germinated for 7, 9, and 11 days is presented in Figure 1B. The flavonoid content of water and 80% ethanol extracts of both wheat extracts increased with germination time significantly as for the total phenolic content while the contents of 80% ethanol extracts of WS did not differ significantly between 7 and 9 days, and the water extracts of NS between 9 and 11 days. The flavonoid content of WS was found to be higher than that of NS. The flavonoid contents of 80% ethanol  
Figure 1: Total phenolic (**A**) and flavonoid (**B**) contents of Korean waxy and normal wheat sprouts germinated for 7, 9, and 11 days. WSW, water extracts of the waxy wheat sprouts; WSE, 80% ethanol extracts of the waxy wheat sprouts; NSW, water extracts of the normal wheat sprouts; NSE, 80% ethanol extracts of the normal wheat sprouts. Values are shown as mean \(\pm\) SD (n \(\geq\) 3). Values with a same letter (a–f) are not significantly different by [PERSON]’s multiple range test (\(p<0.05\)).  
extracts were higher than that of water extracts in each wheat sprout, in contrast to the total phenolic content. To determine whether water or ethanol is the effective solvent for extraction depends on the food type and target compound, and for the wheat sprouts in this study, water seems to be a highly effective solvent for phenolic compounds and 80% ethanol for flavonoids.  
Phenolic compounds and flavonoids are natural antioxidants that are known to be responsible for the antioxidant activity of plant materials [21,22]. The major phenolic compounds of wheat grain are ferulic acid, catechin, epigallocatechin gallate and luteolin [23]. The total phenolic content of the extracts increased with germination time in both WS and NS, and this increase was also reported for Polish winter wheat cultivars germinated for 2-8 days [24], and for einkorn and emmer wheat grains until 12 days of growth [25]. Total phenolic content was also reported to be higher in wheat sprouts that germinated for one day than the wheat grains [2], implying an increase in phenolic compounds attributed to seed germination. Germination for 5 days have been shown to increase the phenolic content in the methanol extracts of wheat, barley, rye, and sorghum, but not in buckwheat and brown rice [23]. The presence of flavonoids in the water extract of commercial wheatgrass has previously been reported [26], and the flavonoid content was found to be increased with germination until 72 h in the 80% methanol extracts of wheat grains, which was also observed in barley, sorghum, and millet [27], showing consistency with the results of this study. As shown in the results, WS exhibited the same increase as that of NS in the flavonoid contents with germination time and higher flavonoid contents than NS, thereby implying higher antioxidant activity exhibited by WS than NS.