Fiber legumes

Because legumes are good sources of protein, they make a healthy substitute for meat, which is extremely acidic and does not contain any fiber. Legumes are very versatile, and there are many great ways to include them in your meals and snacks. You can add them to salads, soups, stews, and casseroles or puree them to use as the basis for dips and spreads (such as the Hummus recipe on page 152). 

The beneficial effects of dietary fiber, including both soluble and iasoluble fiber, are generally recognized. Current recommendations are for daily iatakes of 20—35 g ia a balanced diet of cereal products, fmits, vegetables, and legumes. However, the specific preventive role of dietary fiber ia certaia diseases has beea difficult to estabUsh, ia part because dietary risk factors such as high saturated fat and high proteia levels are reduced as fiber levels iacrease. 

Detergent Methods. The neutral detergent fiber (NDF) and acid detergent fiber (ADF) methods (2), later modified for human foods (13), measure total insoluble plant cell wall material (NDF) and the cellulose—lignin complex (ADF). The easily solubilized pectins and some associated polysaccharides, galactomaimans of legume seeds, various plant gums, and seaweed polysaccharides are extracted away from the NDF. They caimot be recovered easily from the extract, and therefore the soluble fiber fraction is lost. 

In addition to fiber and carbohydrate content, protein intake from legumes may have weight-loss benefits for obese individuals just because proteins enhance post-meal satiety (Rolls, 1995). However, a possible specific role for phytoestrogens in obesity has been postulated through the modulation of the satiety response, a neuroendocrine mechanism controlled by leptin (a hormone secreted by adipose tissue and already known to be regulated by... 

Composition and Functionality of Protein, Starch, and Fiber from Wet and Dry Processing of Grain Legumes... 

The protein fraction showed low nitrogen solubility and rather low water hydration and oil absorption values relative to those of the proteinates but oil emulsification was quite high. Refined legume fiber had a water hydration capacity of over 20 g/g product. 

Grain legumes have also been processed into refined starch (10,11) and protein isolates (12,13,14) by procedures derived from the traditional corn starch and soybean protein industries (15). However, comparative data on product yields, composition and losses have not been published. A commercial plant for the wet processing of field pea into refined starch, protein isolate and refined fiber has been established in Western Canada. Little is known about the characteristics of the protein isolate or refined fiber product. Water-washed starch prepared from the air-classified starch fractions of field pea (16,17) and fababean (6) have been investigated for certain physico-chemical and pasting properties. Reichert (18) isolated the cell wall material from soaked field pea cotyledons and determined its fiber composition and water absorption capacity. In addition, the effects of drying techniques on the characteristics of pea protein Isolates have been determined (14). 

On the basis of proteinate yields (Table II) and their protein contents (Table I), the recoveries of protein during wet processing were about 73% for both legumes, which was only slightly below the efficiency of the dry process. However, the losses of starch in the whey and wash solids were substantial, and starch recoveries averaged 77.5%. The yields of refined fiber were about 8% of the raw materials. Almost 30% of the dry matter from wet processing would have to be recovered from whey and wash extracts to make the process economical. 

Functional Properties. The pH s of the flours and products obtained by air classification varied between 6.5-6.7 (Table III), which was typical of legume flours (1.3). The proteinates were near oH 7 because of the neutralization orocedure after isoelectric orecioita-tion while the refined starch and fiber were still alkaline in pH despite several washings with distilled water. In a previous study, adjustment of the pH of lupine flour was shown to have a significant influence on functional properties (1) but pH was not adjusted in the present investigation. 

Product Colours. Both legume flours showed creamy-yellow colours under the Hunter Color Difference Meter but fababean flour was also slightly greenish (Table V). Pin milling improved the lightness of the flour and this colour was retained by the protein and starch fractions at the expense of the yellow values. The proteinates were light brown in appearance whereas the refined starches were essentially white. The refined fiber retained only a light shade of yellow as compared to the other products. 

Wehmeyer et al. (1969), Bower et al. (1988), and Amarteifio and Moholo (1998) reported the content of carbohydrate to be 23%, 24%, and 19%, respectively. These values have been obtained indirectly as the difference between 100% and the content of proteins, lipids, and minerals. Holse et al. (2010) found that the content of carbohydrate was dominated by total dietary fiber as it varied between 18.7% and 26.8% dm (Table 5.2). The majority of the dietary fiber is insoluble as only about 4% of the dietary fibers are soluble. Comparing the content of total dietary fiber of morama bean with the content of peanut (9% dm) and soybean (10% dm) (U.S. Department of Agriculture, 2007), it appears that the morama bean has a considerably higher level of indigestible carbohydrates. Holse et al. (2010) also reported a very low starch content, which is in contrast to other legumes, in which starch is usually the most abundant carbohydrate... 

Legume seeds -role in nitrogen fixation [NITROGEN FIXATION] (Vol 17) -source ofdietary fiber [DIETARY FIBER] (Vol 8) -source ofdietary fiber [DIETARY FIBER] (Vol 8)... 

Legumes are found in locations from the tropics to beyond the Arctic Circle and are most frequent and diverse in tropical rain forests and savannahs. They provide major sources of food, fibers, fodder, timber, drugs and many other products, and have done so since ancient times. Seeds of legumes have been found as tomb offerings in the earliest Egyptian and Tigris-Euphrates civilizations and from prehistoric and medieval lake dwelling sites in Europe. 

The observation of a lower incidence of coronary heart disease (CHD) and certain types of cancers in the Mediterranean area led to the hypothesis that a diet rich in grain, legumes, fresh fruits and vegetables, wine in moderate amounts, and olive oil was beneficial to human health. To date, this effect has been mainly attributed to the low saturated fat intake of the Mediterranean diet and its high proportion of monounsaturates, which indeed may favorably affect the plasma lipid and lipoprotein profiles. Nevertheless, other components of the diet, such as fiber, vitamins, flavonoids, and phenols, may play an important role in disease prevention, acting on different cardiovascular variables. 

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