Bioactive Compounds of Legumes as Health Promoters
- Authors: Luis R. Silva1, Alvaro Peix2, Carlos Albuquerque3, Encarna Velazquez4
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View Affiliations Hide Affiliations1 CICS UBI Health Sciences Research Centre, University of Beira Interior, 6201 506 Covilha, Portugal. 2 CICS UBI Health Sciences Research Centre, University of Beira Interior, 6201 506 Covilha, Portugal. 3 CICS UBI Health Sciences Research Centre, University of Beira Interior, 6201 506 Covilha, Portugal. 4 CICS UBI Health Sciences Research Centre, University of Beira Interior, 6201 506 Covilha, Portugal.
- Source: Natural Bioactive Compounds from Fruits and Vegetables as Health Promoters: Part II , pp 3-26
- Publication Date: May 2016
- Language: English
Bioactive Compounds of Legumes as Health Promoters, Page 1 of 1
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Legumes are a wide group of plants worldwide cultivated by the high nutritional quality of their seeds containing fibre, proteins, resistant starch, minerals and vitamins. The milk obtained from seeds of some legumes, mainly soybean, is used to obtain fermented products currently widely consumed as probiotics. Moreover, legumes are considered as nutraceuticals since they contain bioactive peptides (BAPs) and many phytochemicals endowed with useful biological activities. Legume BAPs have antioxidant, antihypertensive, hypocholesterolemic and antithrombotic activities. Flavonoids and particularly isoflavones have beneficial effects in different cancer types, have been related with lower cardiovascular risk and are protective against fatty liver disease, obesity, diabetes and other metabolic disorders. </p><p> Hydrophilic phytochemicals, such as ascorbic acid (vitamin C), phenolic acids and polyphenols, have been associated with a reduction of cancer risk and an enhancement of the immune system functionality. Lipophilic phytonutrients, such as carotenoids and tocopherols, may prevent the risk of cardiovascular diseases. In this chapter we revise the recent works focusing on legume bioactive compounds and human health prevention.
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