Fatty Acid Profile and Squalene, Tocopherol, Carotenoid, Sterol Content of Seven Selected Consumed Legumes

Method development of multi pesticide residue analysis in country beans collected from Dhaka, Bangladesh, and their dietary risk assessment

The aim of the study was to develop a modified QuEChERS method coupled with liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) for the simultaneous determination of five multi-class pesticides in country beans collected from Dhaka, Bangladesh. Pesticides were extracted using ACN, and to minimize the co-extraction matrix, optimized d-SPE cleanup was done using sorbents (GCB, PSA, and C18). In the calibration range, the method showed excellent linearity with a correlation coefficient of R2 ≥ 0.9990 both in solvent- and matrix-matched calibration. For the selected pesticides, average recoveries (at four spiking levels (n = 5) of 10, 20, 100, and 200 µg/kg) of 70-100 % were achieved with relative standard deviations (RSDs) ≤ 9.5 %. The limit of detection (LOD) and limit of quantification (LOQ) ranged from 0.3333 to 1.3333 μg/kg and 1.0 to 4.0 μg/kg, respectively. The dietary risk assessment, in terms of hazard quotient (HQ), was calculated to assess consumers' health risks.

Unlocking the Nutraceutical Potential of Legumes and Their By-Products: Paving the Way for the Circular Economy in the Agri-Food Industry

Legumes, including beans, peas, chickpeas, and lentils, are cultivated worldwide and serve as important components of a balanced and nutritious diet. Each legume variety contains unique levels of protein, starch, fiber, lipids, minerals, and vitamins, with potential applications in various industries. By-products such as hulls, rich in bioactive compounds, offer promise for value-added utilization and health-focused product development. Various extraction methods are employed to enhance protein extraction rates from legume by-products, finding applications in various foods such as meat analogs, breads, and desserts. Moreover, essential fatty acids, carotenoids, tocols, and polyphenols are abundant in several residual fractions from legumes. These bioactive classes are linked to reduced incidence of cardiovascular diseases, chronic inflammation, some cancers, obesity, and type 2 diabetes, among other relevant health conditions. The present contribution provides a comprehensive review of the nutritional and bioactive composition of major legumes and their by-products. Additionally, the bioaccessibility and bioavailability aspects of legume consumption, as well as in vitro and in vivo evidence of their health effects are addressed.

"Exotic" seeds from Southern Africa as potential Novel Foods? - Chemical composition of manketti nuts (Schinziophyton rautanenii) and ushivi beans (Guibourtia coleosperma)

Various species of Southern African plants and their edible seeds have gained huge importance due to positive health aspects, and there is increasing interest to introduce such seeds as Novel Food on the international market. Especially the seeds of Schinziophyton rautanenii (manketti) and Guibourtia coleosperma (ushivi) could have great potential as a food and food ingredient. Hence, extensive analyses on the chemical composition of manketti nuts and ushivi beans including the analysis of total solids, protein and fat content, soluble carbohydrates, ash, total and free amino acids, biogenic amines and polyamines, fatty acid profile as well as the content of certain B-vitamins and tocopherols were performed. Results obtained showed a valuable nutritional composition, e.g., a true protein content of 22.6% with a ratio of essential amino acids to total amino acid composition of 48% in manketti nuts, while ushivi beans had a true protein content of 8.2% with a similar ratio of essential to total amino acids (45%). Lipid content was 54.1% in manketti nuts, ushivi beans had a value of 7.7%. In both, linoleic acid was the most abundant. Furthermore, ushivi beans had high amounts of vitamin B1 and B2.

Nutrient Levels, Bioactive Metabolite Contents, and Antioxidant Capacities of Faba Beans as Affected by Dehulling

Legume dehulling often removes anti-nutrients while improving nutritional quality. However, the process may reduce the levels of other health-promoting metabolites. This study investigated the effect of dehulling on major nutrients, bioactive metabolites, and antioxidant activities using 22 faba bean cultivars typically grown in different parts of the world. The faba bean cultivars differed significantly in all the parameters assessed. Crude fiber (CFC), dietary fiber (DFC), crude protein, and crude fat contents were in the ranges of 5.24-10.56, 16.17-25.15, 19.83-30.90, and 0.79-1.94% in the whole seeds and 0.96-1.59, 4.14-9.50, 22.47-36.61, and 1.13-2.07% in the dehulled seeds, respectively. Moreover, fatty acids including palmitic acid, stearic acid, oleic acid, linoleic acid, and linolenic acid, bioactive metabolites including total phenol (TPC), total saponin (TSC), and total tannin (TTC) contents, and antioxidant activities including ABTS•+-scavenging activity, ferric antioxidant power (FRAP), and DPPH•-scavenging activity also showed significant variations. Dehulling significantly reduced DFC (55.09-79.30%), CFC (69.61-87.52%), and TTC (1.70-66.99%) in all the faba bean cultivars while increasing total protein content (9.31-17.69%). Dehulling also increased the total fat content (3.02-48.13%) in all the cultivars except Giant Three Seeded, a Japanese cultivar, which showed a 12.62% decrease. In contrast, dehulling exhibited varying results on fatty acids, TPC, TSC, and antioxidant activities among the faba bean cultivars. Accordingly, three cultivars: Primus from Hungary, Levens Marschbohne from Germany, and Ascott from France, exhibited simultaneous increases in nutritional levels after dehulling. Domasna-2 from Macedonia, Abawi# 1 from Peru, Seville from the United Kingdom, and Large Mazandran from Iran, on the other hand, exhibited marked reductions in nutritional levels, functional metabolites, and antioxidant activities. In general, our findings indicated that dehulling reduces crude fiber, dietary fiber, and tannin levels while increasing protein and fat contents in faba beans. However, fatty acids, phenolic content, and antioxidant activity may not be equally affected by dehulling and, therefore, specific genotypes should be inspected.

Evaluation of Selected Medicinal, Timber and Ornamental Legume Species' Seed Oils as Sources of Bioactive Lipophilic Compounds

Bioactive lipophilic compounds were investigated in 14 leguminous tree species of timber, agroforestry, medicinal or ornamental use but little industrial significance to elucidate their potential in food additive and supplement production. The tree species investigated were: Acacia auriculiformis, Acacia concinna, Albizia lebbeck, Albizia odoratissima, Bauhinia racemosa, Cassia fistula, Dalbergia latifolia, Delonix regia, Entada phaseoloides, Hardwickia binata, Peltophorum pterocarpum, Senegalia catechu, Sesbania sesban and Vachellia nilotica. The hexane-extracted oils of ripe seeds were chromatographically analysed for their fatty acid composition (GC-MS), tocochromanol (RP-HPLC/FLD), squalene and sterol (GC-FID) content. A spectrophotometrical method was used to determine total carotenoid content. The results showed generally low oil yield (1.75-17.53%); the highest was from H. binata. Linoleic acid constituted the largest proportion in all samples (40.78 to 62.28% of total fatty acids), followed by oleic (14.57-34.30%) and palmitic (5.14-23.04%) acid. The total tocochromanol content ranged from 100.3 to 367.6 mg 100 g^-1 oil. D. regia was the richest and the only to contain significant amount of tocotrienols while other oils contained almost exclusively tocopherols, dominated by either α-tocopherol or γ-tocopherol. The total carotenoid content was highest in A. auriculiformis (23.77 mg 100 g^-1), S. sesban (23.57 mg 100 g^-1) and A. odoratissima (20.37 mg 100 g^-1), and ranged from 0.7 to 23.7 mg 100 g^-1 oil. The total sterol content ranged from 240.84 to 2543 mg 100 g^-1; A. concinna seed oil was the richest by a wide margin; however, its oil yield was very low (1.75%). Either β-sitosterol or Δ5-stigmasterol dominated the sterol fraction. Only C. fistula oil contained a significant amount of squalene (303.1 mg 100 g^-1) but was limited by the low oil yield as an industrial source of squalene. In conclusion, A. auriculiformis seeds may hold potential for the production of carotenoid-rich oil, and H. binata seed oil has relatively high yield and tocopherol content, marking it as a potential source of these compounds.

Free tocopherols and tocotrienols in 82 plant species' oil: Chemotaxonomic relation as demonstrated by PCA and HCA

The tocopherol (T) and tocotrienol (T3) profile were investigated in the present study for four hundred and eighteen plant oil samples, including thirty-one families, eighty-two species, and five cross-species. Fifteen species were dominated by tocotrienols, while sixty-seven - by tocopherols. The mean proportion of γ-T was almost half of the total tocochromanol content (49.3%) in the investigated samples, while α-T constituted to one quarter (25.0%), and the remaining other tocochromanols were present as minor constituents. A strong relationship between the taxonomic plant origin and the presence of the characteristic tocochromanol profile in oils obtained from those plants was noted. This is the first study to demonstrate that not only monocotyledonous, but also dicotyledons families can be rich in tocotrienols. The usefulness of statistical tools - principal component analysis (PCA) and hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA) for plant sample discrimination based on their tocochromanol profile was also shown.

Optimization Studies and Compositional Oil Analysis of Pequi (Caryocar brasiliense Cambess) Almonds by Supercritical CO2 Extraction

Caryocar brasiliense Cambess (pequi) is the fruit of the pequizeiro tree found in the Brazilian Cerrado (savanna). Supercritical fluids have been used to effectively extract bioactive chemicals. In light of the paucity of research on the supercritical extraction of pequi, in this study, experimental tests were conducted on the extraction of pequi almond oil using supercritical CO_2; the optimal extraction conditions were determined, and the fatty acids and active compounds in the oil were characterized. The experiments were conducted using the Box-Behnken experimental design of a three-variable system: pressure (15, 20, and 25 MPa), temperature (303.15, 318.15, and 333.15 K), and flow rate (2, 3, and 5 g.min^-1). The optimal extraction conditions were 318.15 K, 25 MPa, and 5.0 g.min^-1, which yielded 27.6 wt% of oil. The experimental kinetic curves were described using a second-order quadratic model (based on the Sovová model), which demonstrated a satisfactory correspondence with the kinetic curves. Significant amounts of squalene, stigmasterol, oleic fatty acids, and palmitic fatty acids were detected in pequi almond oil.

Polyphenols, Saponins and Phytosterols in Lentils and Their Health Benefits: An Overview

The lentil (Lens culinaris L.) is one of the most important legumes (family, Fabaceae). It is a natural functional food rich in many bioactive compounds, such as polyphenols, saponins and phytosterols. Several studies have demonstrated that the consumption of lentils is potentially important in reducing the incidence of a number of chronic diseases, due to their bioactive compounds. The most common polyphenols in lentils include phenolic acids, flavan-3-ol, flavonols, anthocyanidins, proanthocyanidins or condensed tannins, and anthocyanins, which play an important role in the prevention of several degenerative diseases in humans, due to their antioxidant activity. Furthermore, lentil polyphenols are reported to have antidiabetic, cardioprotective and anticancer activities. Lentil saponins are triterpene glycosides, mainly soyasaponins I and βg. These saponins have a plasma cholesterol-lowering effect in humans and are important in reducing the risk of many chronic diseases. Moreover, high levels of phytosterols have been reported in lentils, especially in the seed coat, and β-sitosterol, campesterol, and stigmasterol are the most abundant. Beyond their hypocholesterolemic effect, phytosterols in lentils are known for their anti-inflammatory activity. In this review, the current information on the nutritional composition, bioactive compounds including polyphenols, saponins and phytosterols, and their associated health-promoting effects are discussed.

Metabolite Profiling of Soy By-Products: A Comprehensive Approach

Soy is the major oilseed crop as soybeans are widely used to produce biofuel, food, and feed. Other parts of the plant are left on the ground after harvest. The accumulation of such by-products on the soil can cause environmental problems. This work presents for the first time a comprehensive metabolite profiling of soy by-products collected directly from the ground just after mechanical harvesting. A two-liquid-phase extraction using n-heptane and EtOH-H2O 7:3 (v/v) provided extracts with complete characterization by gas chromatography and ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography both coupled to time-of-flight mass spectrometry. A total of 146 metabolites, including flavones, flavonols, isoflavonoids, fatty acids, steroids, mono-, sesqui-, di-, and triterpenoids, were tentatively identified in soy by-products and soybeans. These proved to be sources of a wide range of bioactive metabolites, thus suggesting that they could be valorized while reducing potential environmental damage in line with a circular economy model.