Grain legumes— a boon to human nutrition

Tharanathan, R. N. and Mahadevamma, S. (2003) Grain legumes— a boon to human nutrition. Trends in Food Science and Technology, 14. pp. 507-518.

PDF Trends_in_Food_Science_&_Technology_14_(2003)_507-518.pdf Restricted to Registered users only Download (607kB)

Abstract

Grain legumes occupy an important place in human nutrition, especially in the dietary pattern of low-income groups of people in developing countries. Legumes, considered as poor man’s meat, are generally good sources of slow release carbohydrates and are rich in proteins. Legumes are normally consumed after processing, which not only improves palatability of foods but also increases the bioavailability of nutrients, by inactivating trypsin and growth inhibitors and haemagglutinins. Starch, the major biopolymeric constituent of legumes, upon processing gets partially modified into resistant starch (RS). The latter, a man made functional dietary fibre, is a unique ingredient that can yield high quality foods, in addition to its significance on faecal bulk and butyrate production, which are the putative markers of colonic health of humans. The slow and reduced digestibility of legume starch has been attributed to its amylose, which is considerably branched and is of high molecular weight. Dietary fibre, which is a heterogeneous mixture of several types of polysaccharides, is rich in legumes, especially in their husk fractions and contributes to beneficial therapeutic health effects.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	grain legumes human nutrition
Subjects:	600 Technology > 01 Medical sciences > 13 Nutrition-Human 600 Technology > 08 Food technology > 22 Legumes-Pulses
Divisions:	Dept. of Biochemistry
Depositing User:	Food Sci. & Technol. Information Services
Date Deposited:	11 Oct 2007 11:10
Last Modified:	28 Dec 2011 09:31
URI:	http://ir.cftri.res.in/id/eprint/1502

Actions (login required)

View Item