Germinated or fermented legumes: food or ingredients of functional food

Epidemiological research has shown a positive association between certain diseases and dietary intake of food components found in fruits, grains, legumes, fish oil among others. Food that may provide a health benefit beyond the traditional nutrients that it contains, are named functional food. In addition to the varied nutrients, legumes contain compounds such as polyphenols, soluble fiber, alpha-galactosides and isoflavones which confer propierties of functional foods. Do to the cuse of flatus production in some people, long cooking periods, or anti-nutritional factors, legume consumption levels are limited. In this review, germination and fermentation processes will be presented as alternatives that are able to reduce or inactivate anti-nutritional factors, preserve and even improve the content of the isoflavones, or better the potencial of the legumes as functional food or as ingredients for the formulation of functional foods.     

Baked product development based fermented legumes and cereals for schoolchildren snack

The objective of this work was to develop three foodstuffs based on mixes of wheat and fermented and non-fermented legumes, for the purpose of contributing with a healthy alternative for school snacks. To this aim, refined wheat flour was partially substituted with whole legume flours for the preparation of cakes, brownies and cookies, foodstuffs traditionally consumed by school age children. Cakes were formulated substituting 20% of wheat flour with Phaseolus vulgaris flour, brownies with 30% of Cajanus cajan flour and cookies with 30% of Vigna sinensis flour, using fermented and non-fermented legumes in the three products. When these products were subjected to sensorial evaluation through a test of degree of acceptability and using a hedonic scale of 7 points, values higher than 5 in the attributes taste, color and overall appraisal were found for all the products. In addition, the preference was measured with a group of 90 school children, corroborating the results obtained at laboratory level. Chemical characterization showed protein contents between 12 and 13% for the cake, 10 and 11% for the brownies and 10% for the cookies and protein digestibilities in vitro of 91%, 87% and 93%, respectively. The calorie supply, calculated per portion was of 199 kcal, 246 kcal and 237 kcal, for cakes, brownies and cookies, respectively. It was concluded that it is technically possible to incorporate fermented and non-fermented Phaseolus vulgaris, Vigna sinensis and Cajanus cajan, to highly consumed products such as cakes, brownies and cookies with a higher nutritional content and well-accepted by school-age children.     

Effect of natural and controlled fermentation on flatus‐producing compounds of beans (Phaseolus vulgaris)

Fermentation of grain legumes is an efficient method to reduce the concentration of α‐galactosidic compounds that are known to be flatulence producers. Soluble dietary fibre has also been implicated in flatulence production; however, little information exists about the effectiveness of fermentation in diminishing the effects of these compounds. The objective of this work was to study the effect of natural fermentation (NF) and controlled fermentation (CF) on the content of α‐galactosides and dietary fibre in dry beans (Phaseolus vulgaris) for 24, 48, 72 and 96 h. After 48 h, the pH during NF dropped from 6.15 to 4.00 and the nominal acidity increased six times; for CF, however, although the decrease in pH was similar to that for NF, the nominal acidity increased only three times after 48 h. Insoluble fibre content did not change the pH significantly after 96 h for NF and CF. Soluble fibre suffered an apparent removal after 48 h of NF and underwent a sharp reduction of 66% after 96 h of CF. The concentration of stachyose (the main α‐galactoside in raw beans) diminished notably after 48 h and 96 h NF (72% and 95% respectively), whereas with CF only 11% was removed after 96 h. NF of P vulgaris seems to be more effective than CF in reducing the flatulence‐producer factors (α‐galactosides and soluble dietary fibre). Copyright © 2003 Society of Chemical Industry     

Lactic acid fermentation of black beans (Phaseolus vulgaris): microbiological and chemical characterization

Legumes, and particularly Phaseolus vulgaris, are an important source of nutrients, especially in developing countries. In spite of being part of the staple diets of these populations, their consumption is limited by the flatulence they produce. Natural lactic acid fermentation has proved to be an effective method to decrease flatulence‐producing compounds. However, in order to use this method as a process on a large scale, it is fundamental to identify the microbial flora involved. When fermented seeds of Phaseolus vulgaris (black bean) were analysed microbiologically, it was found that the microorganisms present were Lactobacillus casei and Lactobacillus plantarum. On performing back‐slopping or induced fermentation with different inocula, a 63.35% decrease was found for the soluble fibre and 88.6% for raffinose, one of the main flatulence‐producing compounds. When cooking under atmospheric pressure was applied to the fermented samples, a significant diminution of the trypsin inhibitors and tannins was found as well as an increase in the in vitro and in vivo digestibility of the beans. All these results demonstrate that the lactic acid bacteria used for the induced fermentation can lead to a functional food with improved nutritional quality. Copyright © 2006 Society of Chemical Industry     

Use of Phaseolus vulgaris and Vigna sinensis in a fermented dairy drink

The objective of this work was to develop a new kind fermented dairy drink, partially substituted with clear varieties of Phaseolus vulgaris (caraota) and Vigna sinensis (frijol). The formulation of fermented dairy drinks included sterile extracts of caraota and frijol, as partial substitutes which replaced milk: 10, 20 and 30%. The mixtures were inoculated with 2% of a mixture of Lactobacillus acidophillus, Streptococcus thermophilus and Bifidobacterium sp. and were incubated at 42 degrees C for 7 hours. Mango and guava jams were used as flavorings at 20%. On the basis of the sensorial evaluation the mixtures 10% frijol-mango, 10% frijol-guava, 30% caraota-mango and 20% caraota-guava were selected. In the selected fermented dairy drinks, the levels of protein, soluble and insoluble fiber, available and resistant starches were increased and the protein digestibility was 81%. The technical feasibility of partial substitution of milk with extracts of Phaseolus vulgaris or Vigna sinensis. For the elaboration of a fermented dairy drink similar to the liquid yogurt kind was demonstrated.     

Expression of IL-8, IL-6 and IL-1β in Tears as a Main Characteristic of the Immune Response in Human Microbial Keratitis

Corneal infections are frequent and potentially vision-threatening diseases, and despite the significance of the immunological response in animal models of microbial keratitis (MK), it remains unclear in humans. The aim of this study was to describe the cytokine profile of tears in patients with MK. Characteristics of ocular lesions such as size of the epithelial defect, stromal infiltration, and hypopyon were analyzed. Immunological evaluation included determination of interleukine (IL)-1β, IL-6, IL-8, IL-10, IL-12 and tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α in tear samples obtained from infected eyes of 28 patients with MK and compared with their contralateral non-infected eyes. Additionally, frequency of CD4⁺, CD8⁺, CD19⁺ and CD3⁻CD56⁺ cells was also determined in peripheral blood mononuclear cells in patients with MK, and compared with 48 healthy controls. Non-significant differences were observed in the size of the epithelial defect, stromal infiltration, and hypopyon. Nevertheless, we found an immunological profile apparently related to MK etiology. IL-8 > IL-6 in patients with bacterial keratitis; IL-8 > IL-6 > IL-1β and increased frequency of circulating CD3⁻CD56⁺ NK cells in patients with gram-negative keratitis; and IL-8 = IL-6 > IL-1β in patients with fungal keratitis. Characterization of tear cytokines from patients with MK could aid our understanding of the immune pathophysiological mechanisms underlying corneal damage in humans.