Nutritional Composition and Bioactive Content of Legumes: Characterization of Pulses Frequently Consumed in France and Effect of the Cooking Method

Abstract

Pulses display nutritional benefits and are recommended in sustainable diets. Indeed, they are rich in proteins and fibers, and can contain variable amounts of micronutrients. However, pulses also contain bioactive compounds such as phytates, saponins, or polyphenols/tannins that can exhibit ambivalent nutritional properties depending on their amount in the diet. We characterized the nutritional composition and bioactive compound content of five types of prepared pulses frequently consumed in France (kidney beans, white beans, chickpeas, brown and green lentils, flageolets), and specifically compared the effects of household cooking vs. canning on the composition of pulses that can be consumed one way or the other. The contents in macro-, micronutrients, and bioactive compounds highly varied from one pulse to another (i.e., 6.9 to 9.7 g/100 g of cooked product for proteins, 4.6 to 818.9 µg/100 g for lutein or 15.0 to 284.3 mg/100 g for polyphenols). The preparation method was a key factor governing pulse final nutritional composition in hydrophilic compounds, depending on pulse species. Canning led to a greater decrease in proteins, total dietary fibers, magnesium or phytate contents compared to household cooking (i.e., −30%, −44%, −33% and −38%, p < 0.05, respectively, in kidney beans). As canned pulses are easy to use for consumers, additional research is needed to improve their transformation process to further optimize their nutritional quality.

Psyllium and Laminaria Partnership—An Overview of Possible Food Gel Applications

“…The most important chemical feature of Psyllium husk is its high soluble fiber content (80%, d.b., as previously determined by the authors in the same sample [10]. However, aside from its fiber content, Psyllium husk has a mineral composition of 10.3 g K/kg, 0.88 g Na/kg, 1.36 g Ca/kg, and 94.7 mg Fe/kg, (present study), the last two minerals having a higher content than most cooked pulses [23].…”

The Impact of Herbs and Spices on Increasing the Appreciation and Intake of Low-Salt Legume-Based Meals

“…In addition, the blend of those legumes is a novel approach to incorporating and increasing the consumption of different types of legumes, producing diverse nutritional characteristics in the final products. For instance, lentils have a better nutrition profile in terms of fat, fiber, and protein content than chickpeas [38]; thus, it was a way to reduce the fat content in the final product.…”

Potential anti-inflammatory and lipase inhibitory peptides generated by in vitro gastrointestinal hydrolysis of heat treated millet grains

“…It generally reduces the nutritional quality of the product and the phytochemical content. On the other hand, this method can inactivate antinutritional compounds, increasing potential bioaccessibility of nutrients, or modulate the amino acid composition and protein digestibility (Margier et al, 2018;Nosworthy et al, 2018;Qi et al, 2019). Nowadays, it is known that the cooking conditions such as time, temperature, pH, etc.…”