Department of Nutrition and Food Science, Faculty of Pharmacy, Complutense University of Madrid, Pza Ramon y Cajal, s/n. E- 28040 Madrid, Spain.
Curr Pharm Des. 2020;26(16):1880-1897. doi: 10.2174/1381612826666200203130150.
Pulses are a staple food cultivated since ancient times, which play an important role in the human diet. From a nutritional point of view, pulses are very interesting foods as they are rich in proteins, carbohydrates and dietary fibre. Dietary antioxidants are a complex mixture of hydrophilic and lipophilic compounds usually present in foods of plant origin, including pulses. In the present study, the phytochemical composition of selected pulses (common beans, fava beans, lentils, chickpeas, peas and lupins) has been reviewed in terms of their content of antioxidant compounds. The content of hydrosoluble antioxidants (organic acids, phenolic compounds), liposoluble antioxidants (tocopherols, carotenoids) and other compounds which exert antioxidant properties, such as dietary fibre and minerals (zinc, selenium), has been studied, reporting that pulses are an interesting source of these compounds, which have important health benefits, including a preventing role in cardiovascular diseases, anticarcinogenic or neuroprotective properties. It is important to take into account that pulses are not usually consumed raw, but they must be processed before consumption in order to improve their nutritional quality and their palatability, therefore, the effect of different technological and heat treatments (germination, cooking, boiling, extrusion) on the antioxidant compounds present in pulses has been also reviewed. In this regard, it has been observed that as a consequence of processing, the content of phytochemicals with antioxidant properties is usually decreased, but processed pulses maintain relevant amounts of these compounds, preserving their beneficial health effect.
豆类是一种自古以来就被广泛种植的主食，在人类饮食中起着重要作用。从营养角度来看，豆类是非常有趣的食物，因为它们富含蛋白质、碳水化合物和膳食纤维。膳食抗氧化剂是一种复杂的亲水性和疏水性化合物的混合物，通常存在于植物性食物中，包括豆类。在本研究中，从抗氧化化合物的含量方面综述了几种豆类（普通豆、蚕豆、小扁豆、鹰嘴豆、豌豆和羽扇豆）的植物化学成分。研究了水溶性抗氧化剂（有机酸、酚类化合物）、脂溶性抗氧化剂（生育酚、类胡萝卜素）和其他具有抗氧化特性的化合物（膳食纤维和矿物质（锌、硒）的含量，研究表明豆类是这些化合物的一个有趣来源，这些化合物对健康有重要的益处，包括预防心血管疾病、抗癌或神经保护作用。重要的是要考虑到豆类通常不是生吃的，而是在食用前必须经过加工，以提高其营养价值和口感，因此，还综述了不同的技术和热处理（发芽、烹饪、煮沸、挤压）对豆类中存在的抗氧化化合物的影响。在这方面，已经观察到，由于加工，具有抗氧化特性的植物化学物质的含量通常会降低，但加工后的豆类仍含有大量这些化合物，保持其有益的健康作用。
