Food Chemistry 152 (2014) 462–466

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Food Chemistry
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/foodchem

In vitro antioxidant activity of extracts from common legumes

Yan Zhao, Shuang-kui Du ⇑, Hanxin Wang, Meng Cai
College of Food Science and Engineering, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, Shaanxi 712100, China

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: The in vitro antioxidant activity of pinto bean, cowpea, baby lima bean, lentil, chickpea, small red bean,
Received 11 June 2013 red kidney bean, black kidney bean, navy bean, and mung bean extracts were investigated. Significant dif-
Received in revised form 25 November 2013 ferences were observed in the phenolic content and the antioxidant activity amongst the legume extracts.
Accepted 3 December 2013
Lentils demonstrated the highest phenolic content (47.6 mg/g), total antioxidant activity (720.68 U/g),
Available online 9 December 2013
DPPH scavenging activity (38.5%), and total reducing power, whereas baby lima beans and navy beans
had the lowest. Amongst the extracts, hydroxyl radicals (OH) scavenging was higher in black kidney
Keywords:
bean (85.68%) and baby lima bean (74.97%) extracts. The total antioxidant activity (r = 0.84), DPPH scav-
Legumes
Antioxidant activity
enging activity (r = 0.83), and total reducing power (r = 0.84) were positively correlated with the total
Phenolic content phenolic content. However, OH scavenging and the phenolic content were not correlated.
Total reducing power Ó 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction are related to the amount of dietary fibre and polyphenols in

Grain legumes in the daily diet are of nutritional value, as sig-
nificant sources of human health food. Legume seeds are consumed
extensively by humans in different areas of the world. Legumes are
essential sources of macronutrients and micronutrients, as well as
rich in flavonoids, proteins, polypeptides, amino acids, vitamins,
carotenoids, and phenolics, these compounds are considered to
be excellent sources of ingredients for functional foods and other
applications (Heimler, Vignolini, Dini, & Romani, 2005; Madhujith,
Naczk, & Shahidi, 2004). The highest variety of leguminous plants
can mainly be found in tropical and subtropical regions. Legumes
have approximately 3 times more protein than cereal grains. The
annual production of legumes ranks fifth in the world after wheat,
rice, maize, and barley (Hoover, Li, Hynes, & Senanayake, 1997).
The global production of edible legumes was about 275 million
tons in 2010. China is rich in leguminous plants, and statistical data
indicates the cultivation of more than 20 types of legumes in the
country.
Leguminous seeds are arable pulse crops that belong to the
family of Leguminosae. These crops are largely cultivated for their
grains and utilised as valuable ingredients of various products for
human consumption, and they are also used for animal feed. The
significant role of grain legumes species on nitrogen dynamics
has been studied and the main legume species that have been
investigated are peas and faba beans (Nemecek, Richthofen, Casta,
Charles, & Pahl, 2008). The health benefits of consuming legumes
⇑ Corresponding author. Address: College of Food Science and Engineering,
Northwest A&F University, 28 Xinong Road, Yangling, Shaanxi 712100, China.
Tel.: +86 29 87092206; fax: +86 29 87092486.
E-mail address: dushuangkui@hotmail.com (S.-k. Du).
legumes. A number of epidemiological studies have correlated
the consumption of legumes with high phenolic content to the re-
duced incidence of diseases such as cancer, ageing, diabetes, and
cardiovascular disease (Kris-Etherton et al., 2002). Tannins, phytic
acid, saponins, and other factors such as polyphenols in legumes
have been hypothesised to prevent chronic diseases (Kabagambe,
Baylin, & Ruiz-Narvarez, 2005).
The dominant phenolic compounds present in leguminous
seeds are flavonoids, phenolic acids, and procyanidins (Amarowicz
& Pegg, 2008). Phenolic compounds act as radical scavengers,
reducing agents, and chelators of metal ions (Djordjevic,
Šiler-Marinkovic, & Dimitrijevic-Brankovic, 2011). The antioxidant
activity and phenolic compounds in various common beans have
been demonstrated in previous studies (Xu, Yuan, & Chang,
2007). Similarly, phenolics and antioxidants of grain legume hulls
have been studied by several authors (Amarowicz, Troszynska,
Barylko-Pikielna, & Shahidi, 2004). The bioactive substances, the
antioxidant activity, the radical scavenging capacity of various
legumes, and the effect of processing and germination on the bio-
actives and antioxidant activity have been reported (Amarowicz &
Pegg, 2008). Although a few studies report the in vitro antioxidant
activity of various legumes, these studies provide sparse data
(Sreeramulu, Reddy, & Raghunath, 2009). In the present study, bio-
active compounds were extracted from various leguminous seeds
by ultrasonic-assisted acidic ethanol treatment. Therefore, the
current study is aimed to evaluate the antioxidant potential of
ten different common legumes and to explore the relationship
between antioxidant activity and phenolic content in the samples.
The current study provides useful information on the effective
utilisation of legumes in food processing.

0308-8146/$ - see front matter Ó 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.foodchem.2013.12.006
 Y. Zhao et al. / Food Chemistry 152 (2014) 462–466
2. Materials and methods
2.1. Materials
Ten commercial legume seeds, pinto bean, baby lima bean, red
kidney bean, black kidney bean, navy bean, small red bean, black
eye bean, mung bean, lentil, and chickpea were purchased from a
local supermarket. All of the seeds were air dried at 25 °C and grou
nd using a kitchen grinder into small sizes that can pass through
sieve No. 72 (British Sieve Standards).
Gallic acid, 1,1-diphenyl-2-picryl-hydrazyl (DPPH), and the
Folin–Ciocalteu reagent were purchased from Sigma Chemical Co.
(St. Louis, MO, USA). The total antioxidant capacity (TAC) test kits
were purchased from the Nanjing Institute of Biological Engineer-
ing. All other chemicals were of analytical grade, including sodium
acetate, anhydrous ethanol, monohydrate gallic acid, and
anhydrous sodium carbonate.
2.2. Extract preparation
1 g of the legume flour was mixed with 20 mL of acidified eth-
anol (60% ethanol with 2% HCl, pH 1.5). The mixture was subjected
to ultrasonication for 30 min at 60 °C (300 W). After cooling to
room temperature, the mixture was centrifuged at 3000g for
15 min. The supernatant was filtered using filter paper, and the
residue was re-extracted twice with ultrasonic oscillation. The
pooled extract was concentrated using a rotary evaporator under
vacuum at 60 °C. The extract volume was adjusted to 50 mL with
deionized water before they were stored in the dark at 4 °C until
further use.
2.3. Determination of total phenolic content (TPC)
The total phenolic content of the legume extracts was deter-
mined using the Folin–Ciocalteu reagent. For each extract, a
1.0 mL aliquot was placed into a 50 mL volumetric flask, and the
extract was mixed with 30 mL deionized water, 2.5 mL of Folin–
Ciocalteu reagent, and 7.5 mL of 20% Na2CO3 solution. The final vol-
ume of the mixture was adjusted to 50 mL using distilled water.
After incubation for 30 min at room temperature, absorbance of
the mixture was measured at 765 nm using a spectrophotometer,
with distilled water as the blank. The total phenolic content of each
extract was determined from the standard curve based on gallic
acid; the content was expressed in mg of gallic acid equivalents
(GAE) per gram of legume (mg/g).
2.4. Determination of total antioxidant capacity (TAC)
The total antioxidant capacity of the legume extracts was
measured using a TAC test kit (Nanjing Institute of Biological Engi-
neering, China). The kit is based on the reaction of Fe2+ and phe-
nanthroline using a spectrophotometer at 520 nm for
determination of total antioxidant capacity of extracts. Results
were expressed as U/g extract. U is a unit of total antioxidant
capacity, which is defined as the amount of antioxidants required
to make absorbance increase 0.01 in 1 mL of reaction liquid at
37 °C. The total antioxidant capacity was calculated using the
formula:
ðODU  ODC Þ V 0
TAC ¼  N
0:01  30 V1
where ODU and ODC are the absorbance values of the test sample
and the reagent blank, respectively; V0 is the total volume of
reaction liquid (mL); V1 is the volume of extracts (mL); N is the fold
of dilution of sample before tested; 30 is the reaction time (min).
463
2.5. Estimation of DPPH scavenging activity
The DPPH scavenging by each legume extract was evaluated
according to the method described by Brand-Williams, Cuvelier,
and Berset (1995), with some modifications. The diluted extract
at various concentrations was added to the working solution of
DPPH in ethanol, and the volume of each mixture was adjusted
to 1.0 mL. Each mixture was shaken vigorously and incubated in
the dark at room temperature for 30 min, before it was centrifuged
at 3000g for 10 min. The absorbance of each supernatant was
measured at 517 nm. The control set-up contained all the reagents
except the legume extracts. The percent scavenging of DPPH was
calculated using the formula:
%Scavenging activity ¼ ½1  ðAsample =Acontrol Þ  100
where Acontrol and Asample are the absorbance values at 517 nm of
the control and the sample extract, respectively.
2.6. Estimation of OH scavenging
Each extract (0.5 mL) was mixed with 0.5 mL of 9.1 mmol/L
salicylic acid–ethanol solution, 0.5 mL of 9 mmol/L Fe2+ solution,
and 3.5 mL of distilled water. Subsequently, 5 mL of 88 mmol/L
H2O2 was added to start the Fenton reaction. The absorbance A1
of the reaction product was measured at 510 nm. The absorbance
A2 was determined with 0.5 mL distilled water instead of the
9 mmol/L Fe2+ solution, whereas the absorbance A3 was measured
using 0.5 mL of distilled water instead of the extract. The hydroxyl
radical (OH) scavenging activity was calculated using the formula:
%Scavenging activity ¼ ½1  ðA1  A2 Þ=A3   100
2.7. Estimation of total reducing power
The total reducing power was assessed using the Prussian blue
method described by Oyaizu (1986), with little modifications. To
measure the total reducing power of the tested samples, each
extract (2 mL) was mixed in a test tube with 2.0 mL of 2.5 mol/L
phosphate buffer (PBS, pH 6.6) containing 2.0 mL of 1% K3Fe(CN)6
solution. The mixtures were incubated at 50 °C for 20 min. After
the addition of 2.0 mL 10% trichloroacetic acid, each mixture was
centrifuged at 3000g for 10 min. The supernatant (2.5 mL) was
collected and mixed with 2.5 mL of deionized water containing
0.5 mL of 0.1% ferric chloride. The absorbance was measured at
700 nm using a spectrophotometer, with distilled water as the
blank. Trolox was used to construct the standard curve.
2.8. Statistical analysis
The all tests were performed in triplicate for each independent
sample to be analysed. All data were expressed as mean ± standard
deviation. Comparison of means was checked by Duncan’s test
using the SAS system (version 8.0, SAS Institute, Cary, NC). Correla-
tion between the phenolic compound contents and the antioxidant
activity was determined using Pearson’s correlation test. P < 0.05
was considered statistically significant.
3. Results and discussion
3.1. Phenolic content
Phenolic compounds are widely distributed in plant kingdom
and are important in the antioxidant capacity in vitro because of
their ability to donate hydrogen and form stable radical intermedi-
ates (Scalbert, Manach, Morand, Remesy, & Jimenez, 2005).
464 Y. Zhao et al. / Food Chemistry 152 (2014) 462–466
Significant differences were observed amongst the total phenolic
content values of flour from different legumes (Table 1). The total
polyphenol content of the different legumes varied from 9.5 mg/g
to 47.6 mg/g. Lentils showed the highest phenolic content
(47.6 mg/g), which was lower than that of 58.0 mg/g reported by
Amarowicz et al. (2009), whereas baby lima bean had the lowest
(9.5 mg/g). The phenolic content of small kidney beans (45.7 mg/
g) appeared to be similar to that of lentils (47.6 mg/g); this result
was higher than that reported by Djordjevic et al. (2011). The
phenolic content of pinto bean flour (33.4 mg/g) was similar to that
of black kidney bean (32.9 mg/g). The total phenolic content of
legumes was significantly higher than that of corn, wheat, millet,
and rice (Sreeramulu et al., 2009). The phenolic content of broad
beans and peas as reported by Amarowicz et al. (2004) was similar
to that of chickpea (21.9 mg/g) in the current study, however, the
total phenolic content of other legumes were remarkably high in
their studies, as compared with the results of the present study.
Previous studies showed that the total phenolic content of lentils
is the highest amongst the examined legumes (Djordjevic et al.,
2011; Han & Baik, 2008), which is comparable with the current
study. The polyphenol variation in different studies may be attrib-
uted to genetic factors, variation between cultivars, and the extrac-
tion procedure used (Amarowicz & Pegg, 2008). To date, none of
the available extraction procedures is completely suitable for
whole phenolics from plant materials (Naczka & Shahidi, 2004).
The abundant phenolic content of leguminous seeds indicates that
legumes are the principal sources of antioxidant activity in food.
3.2. Total antioxidant capacity
The extracts of different legumes have high antioxidant
capacity, and the TAC values ranged from 116 U/g to 721 U/g with
statistically significant differences (Table 1). The lentil extract had
the highest TAC value (721 U/g) followed by chickpea (648 U/g),
small red kidney bean (622 U/g), and black kidney bean (602 U/
g). By contrast, baby lima bean had the lowest value (116 U/g).
The TAC of cowpea (222 U/g) was similar to that of navy bean
(215 U/g). The antioxidant capacity of legumes may be influenced
by their complex composition like active polysaccharides, proteins,
amino acids, vitamins, and microelements. Fernandez-Orozco,
Zielinski, and Piskula (2003) reported that low-molecular-weight
antioxidants, particularly the phenolic compounds provide the
antioxidant capacity of four lentils. A previous report elucidated
that the antioxidant activity of lentils is sevenfold higher than that
of green pea and chickpea (Han & Baik, 2008). The total antioxidant
activity of different legumes differed because of the various pro-
cessing conditions and the different assays of antioxidant capacity
Table 1
Total phenolic content (TPC) and TAC of different legumes extract.A
Material TPC (mg/g)B
b
Pinto bean 33.4 ± 3.0
Cowpea 15.2 ± 0.7d
Baby lima bean 9.5 ± 1.0d
Lentil 47.6 ± 5.3a
Chickpea 21.9 ± 2.8c
Small red bean 45.7 ± 1.8a
Red kidney bean 27.1 ± 3.0c
Black kidney bean 32.9 ± 0.1b
Navy bean 11.6 ± 0.01d
Mung bean 26.7 ± 1.4c
A
Results are means of three independent samples analysed in triplicate ± stan-
dard deviation. Values followed by different letters in a column are significantly
different (P < 0.05) by Duncan test.
B
Results are expressed as mg of gallic acid equivalents/g legume extract.
C
Total antioxidant capacity.
that were used. Given the different possible methods of extraction,
estimation, and calculation for studying antioxidant capacity, the
results observed in the current study are difficult to compare with
those reported in the literature (Djordjevic et al., 2011).
3.3. DPPH radical scavenging activity
The DPPH scavenging assay is extensively used to evaluate the
free-radical scavenging of plant extracts because of its simple,
rapid, sensitive, and reproducible procedure (Mayachiew &
Devahastin, 2008). The observed DPPH scavenging activity of
the ethanol-based extracts from different legumes is given in
Fig. 1. The DPPH scavenging activity increased with the increasing
quantity of the legume extract. The DPPH scavenging activity of
lentils was significantly higher than that of other legumes. The
observed DPPH scavenging capacity reached up to 11.8% at
20 lL and 38.5% at 100 lL, which agrees with the results of Djordj-
evic et al. (2011). The baby lima bean and navy bean had the lowest
DPPH scavenging activity, with values less than 15% at 100 lL
(Fig. 1). López-Amorós, Hernández, and Estrella (2006) reported
that the DPPH scavenging activity of lentils is significantly higher
than that of peas and beans, which is consistent with our results.
Amarowicz et al. (2009) reported that the DPPH scavenging activ-
ity of tannin fraction in red lentil was several times greater than
those of the crude extract and the low-molecular-weight phenolics
fraction. Cheng, Peng, and Xiang (2009) studied the DPPH
scavenging activity of 14 kinds of beans; the scavenging activity
of extracts decreased in the following order: sword bean > black
adzuki bean > mixed coloured cowpea > red bean > kidney bean > -
rice bean > broad bean > black soybean > mung bean > pea > hemp
cowpea > soybean > green soybean > chickpea. Their data was
significantly different from that of the current study. The DPPH
scavenging activity of cowpea and chickpea were similar to that
of some commonly consumed legumes (Madhujith & Shahidi,
2005). The DPPH scavenging ability of various commonly
consumed and under utilised legumes were likewise reported by
Siddhuraju (2006). The DPPH scavenging activity was found to
be highest in extracts from raw and dry-heated horse gram seeds
(Siddhuraju & Manian, 2007). The plant source of each extract,
environmental factors, and the solvent used for extraction may ac-
count for the differences in the levels of DPPH scavenging activity.
3.4. Hydroxyl radical (OH) scavenging activity
The OH generated by the Fenton reaction is a highly reactive
free radical. This free radical can be formed from hydrogen perox-
ide and the superoxide anion and may be generated in the human
body under certain physiological conditions. Double bonds are
formed when OH reacts with aromatic compounds, thereby
producing other oxygen-reactive free radicals, such as the hydrox-
ycy-clohexadienyl radical (Lee, Koo, & Min, 2004). The scavenging
ability of the legume extracts to inhibit OH is shown in Table 2.
TAC (U/g)C
The OH scavenging activity of legume extracts was generally
567 ± 93bc decreased with the reduced extract concentration, with certain
222 ± 26d
differences between legume species. The scavenging rate of the
116 ± 3e
721 ± 51a original legume extracts ranged from 58.64% (cowpea) to 85.68%
648 ± 18ab (black kidney bean), whereas the extracts with fivefold and tenfold
622 ± 32ab dilutions had scavenging activity ranging from 19.12% to 25.25%
516 ± 61c
and 9.43% to 13.73%, respectively. The scavenging activity of the
602 ± 12bc
215 ± 28d black kidney bean extract was reduced by approximately sixfold
304 ± 23d when extract was diluted by tenfold. The OH scavenging activity
of chickpea (66.22%) was similar to that of red kidney bean
(66.15%), whereas the scavenging activity of mung bean (65.92%)
was similar to that of lentil (60.09%) (Table 2). A previous study
found that chickpea proteins and peptides have a scavenging effect
on OH at concentrations from 0.1 mg/mL to 50 mg/mL, and the
 Y. Zhao et al. / Food Chemistry 152 (2014) 462–466 465

Pinto bean
45
Cowpea
40

DPPH• scavenging activity / %

Baby lima bean
35
Lentil
30 Chickpea
25 Small red bean
20 Red kidney bean

15 Black bean
Navy bean
10
Mung bean
5

0
10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110
legume extracts / µL

Fig. 1. Scavenging effect of the legume extracts on the 1,1-diphenyl-2-picryl-hydrazyl radical (DPPH), as measured by loss in absorbance at 517 nm.

Table 2 3.5. Total reducing power

Scavenging effect of legume extract on OH.A

Material OH scavenging activity (%) The total reducing power of legume extracts is presented in
Original extract Dilute 5-fold Dilute 10-fold
Table 3. Significant differences in the reducing power were found
amongst the various legume extracts. The absorbance values of
Pinto bean 65.92 ± 0.10c 23.09 ± 0.24bc 14.01 ± 0.01a
Cowpea 58.64 ± 0.33d 19.12 ± 0.60e 9.43 ± 0.81c
the original extracts ranged from 0.05 to 1.39. However, absor-
Baby lima bean 74.97 ± 0.93b 24.81 ± 0.15ab 11.41 ± 0.19bc bance value varied from 0.01 to 0.51 and 0.00 to 0.25 when
Lentil 60.09 ± 2.93d 20.15 ± 1.97e 11.30 ± 1.45bc solutions were diluted fivefold and tenfold, respectively. The
Chickpea 66.22 ± 0.09c 22.53 ± 0.22cd 11.23 ± 0.93bc absorbance increased with increasing extract concentrations. The
Small red bean 65.44 ± 0.85c 20.05 ± 1.10e 11.42 ± 0.64bc
higher absorbance values had stronger reducing capacity. The
Red kidney bean 66.15 ± 0.01c 20.50 ± 0.28de 10.24 ± 0.49bc
Black kidney bean 85.68 ± 2.51a 25.25 ± 0.65a 13.73 ± 0.58a undiluted lentil extract exhibited the highest reducing power
Navy bean 66.82 ± 1.36c 22.46 ± 1.15cd 11.74 ± 1.28b (1.39), which was followed by mung bean (0.96). The baby lima
Mung bean 59.01 ± 0.76d 19.98 ± 0.69e 10.97 ± 1.21bc bean extract had the least reducing power (0.05), and its absor-
A
Results are means of three independent samples analysed in triplicate ± stan- bance was almost zero after the extract was diluted 5 times. The
dard deviation. Values followed by different letters in a column are significantly tannin fraction of red lentil showed a greater reducing power than
different (P < 0.05) by Duncan test. those of the crude extract and the low-molecular-weight phenolics
fraction (Amarowicz et al., 2009). Siddhuraju, Mohan, and Becker
(2002) reported that the reducing power of bioactive compounds
OH scavenging activity of the chickpea peptides were significantly in peanut hulls was related to antioxidant activity, specifically to
higher than that of the chickpea proteins (Yu, Quan, & Wen, 2008). the free radical scavenging activity. Amarowicz and Troszynska
Several studies of antioxidant capacity demonstrate that the OH (2004) studied the relationship between the reducing power of
scavenging activity of plant extracts may be attributed to the inhi- extracts from red lentil and their phenolic content, and their study
bition of OH by chelating metal ions such as Fe2+ and Cu2+ (Qi reported a direct relationship between the reducing power and the
et al., 2005). antioxidant capacity. The higher reducing power of a compound in
legumes may be considered an indicator of its potential antioxi-
dant capacity.

Table 3 3.6. Correlation between TPC and antioxidant activity of legumes

Total reducing power of legume extract.A

Material Total reducing powerB

The correlation analysis of TPC, TAC, OH scavenging activity,
DPPH scavenging activity, and total reducing power of legume
Original extract Dilute 5-fold Dilute 10-fold
extracts are shown in Table 4. The TAC (r = 0.84), DPPH scaveng-
Pinto bean 0.79 ± 0.10c 0.18 ± 0.01c 0.08 ± 0.01bc ing activity (r = 0.83), and total reducing power (r = 0.84) of the
Cowpea 0.35 ± 0.03e 0.08 ± 0.01d 0.04 ± 0.01cd
legume extracts in this study were positively correlated with the
Baby lima bean 0.05 ± 0.01f 0.01 ± 0.00e 0.00 ± 0.00d
Lentil 1.39 ± 0.11a 0.51 ± 0.06a 0.25 ± 0.07a phenolic content. No correlation was observed between the OH
Chickpea 0.10 ± 0.00f 0.03 ± 0.00e 0.02 ± 0.00d scavenging activity and the phenolic content of legume extracts.
Small red bean 0.74 ± 0.01cd 0.21 ± 0.02bc 0.11 ± 0.01b Velioglu, Mazza, and Gao (1998) reported the positive correlation
Red kidney bean 0.63 ± 0.07d 0.21 ± 0.01bc 0.12 ± 0.00b
between TPC and the antioxidant activity of anthocyanins, which
Black kidney bean 0.85 ± 0.07bc 0.22 ± 0.00bc 0.12 ± 0.00b
Navy bean 0.17 ± 0.00f 0.05 ± 0.00de 0.02 ± 0.00d is comparable with the current results. Therefore, the different
Mung bean 0.96 ± 0.01b 0.23 ± 0.02b 0.11 ± 0.02b phenolic content of the various legumes exhibited different levels
A
contribution for the antioxidant activities. Extracts with higher
Results are means of three independent samples analysed in triplicate ± stan-
dard deviation. Values followed by different letters in a column are significantly
TPC exhibited higher antioxidant ability because phenols contain
different (P < 0.05) by Duncan test. hydroxy which could provide more phenolic hydroxyl and hydro-
B
All data represent the absorbance value measured at 700 nm using a gen atoms with higher amount of TPC, thus their scavenging effect
spectrophotometer. on free radicals were stronger.
466 Y. Zhao et al. / Food Chemistry 152 (2014) 462–466
Table 4
Correlation between TPC and antioxidant activities of ten legume extracts.
TAC DPPH scavenging activitya
** **
TPC 0.84 0.83
a
DPPH scavenging activity of 60 lL extract solution.
b
OH scavenging activity of the extract diluted 5-fold.
c
Total reducing power of the extract diluted 5-fold.
**
Values are significant at P < 0.01 (n = 10).
4. Conclusion
The antioxidant activity significantly differed amongst the
various legume extracts. Lentils showed the highest phenolic
content, total antioxidant activity, DPPH scavenging activity,
and total reducing power, whereas baby lima bean and navy bean
showed the least value. Significant positive correlation was
observed between phenolics and total antioxidant activity, DPPH
scavenging activity, total reducing power of the different legume
extracts. Further research is needed to conduct on identification
of bioactive compounds, determination of the antioxidant activity
by in vivo studies, and evaluation of their beneficial health effects
in human body.
Acknowledgement
The authors would like to thank the Shaanxi Province
Agriculture Research Project (2012K02-14) for the support on this
research.
References
Amarowicz, R., Estrella, I., Hernández, T., Dueñas, M., Troszynska, A., Kosinska, A.,
et al. (2009). Antioxidant activity of red lentil extract and its fractions.
International Journal of Molecular Sciences, 10, 5513–5527.
Amarowicz, R., & Pegg, R. B. (2008). Legumes as a source of natural antioxidants.
European Journal of Lipid Science and Technology, 110, 865–878.
Amarowicz, R., & Troszyńska, A. (2004). Antioxidant and antiradical activity of
extracts of phenolic compounds from red bean. Czech Journal of Food Sciences,
22, 206–208.
Amarowicz, R., Troszyńska, A., Barylko-Pikielna, N., & Shahidi, F. (2004).
Polyphenolics extracts from legume seeds: Correlations between total
antioxidant activity, total phenolics content, tannins content and astringency.
Journal of Food Lipids, 11, 278–286.
Brand-Williams, W., Cuvelier, M. E., & Berset, C. (1995). Use of a free radical method
to evaluate antioxidant activity. Lebensmittel-Wissenschaft and Technologie, 28,
25–30.
Cheng, S. R., Peng, W., & Xiang, Y. M. (2009). The study of the antioxidant activity of
the extracts of common bean. Science of Soybean, 28, 1081–1085.
Djordjevic, M. T., Šiler-Marinkovic, S. S., & Dimitrijevic-Brankovic, I. S. (2011).
Antioxidant activity and total phenolic content in some cereals and legumes.
International Journal of Food Properties, 14, 175–184.
Fernandez-Orozco, R., Zielinski, H., & Piskula, M. K. (2003). Contribution of low-
molecular-weight antioxidants to the antioxidant capacity of raw and
processed lentil seeds. Nahrung/Food, 47, 291–299.
Han, H., & Baik, B. K. (2008). Antioxidant activity and phenolic content of lentils
(Lens culinaris), chickpeas (Cicer arietinum L.), peas (Pisum sativum L.) and
soybeans (Glycine max), and their quantitative changes during processing.
International Journal of Food Science and Technology, 43, 1971–1978.
Heimler, D., Vignolini, P., Dini, M. G., & Romani, A. (2005). Rapid tests to assess the
antioxidant activity of Phaseolus vulgaris L. dry beans. Journal of Agriculture and
Food Chemistry, 53, 3053–3056.
OH scavenging activityb Total reducing powerc
0.28 0.84**
Hoover, R., Li, Y. X., Hynes, G., & Senanayake, N. (1997). Physicochemical
characterization of mung bean starch. Food Hydrocolloids, 11, 401–408.
Kabagambe, E. K., Baylin, A., & Ruiz-Narvarez, E. (2005). Decreased consumption of
dried mature beans is positively associated with urbanization and non fatal
acute myocardial infarction. Journal of Nutrition, 135, 1770–1775.
Kris-Etherton, P. M., Heckar, K. D., Bonanome, A., Coval, S. M., Binkoski, A. E., Hilpert,
K. F., et al. (2002). Bioactive compounds in foods: Their role in the prevention of
cardiovascular disease and cancer. The American Journal of Medicine, 113,
71S–88S.
Lee, J., Koo, N., & Min, D. B. (2004). Reactive oxygen species, aging, and antioxidant
nutraceuticals. Comprehensive Reviews in Food Science and Food Safety, 3, 21–33.
López-Amorós, M. L., Hernández, T., & Estrella, I. (2006). Effect of germination on
legume phenolic compounds and their antioxidant activity. Journal of Food
Composition and Analysis, 19, 277–283.
Madhujith, T., Naczk, M., & Shahidi, F. (2004). Antioxidant activity of common beans
(Phaseolus vulgaris L.). Journal of Food Lipids, 11, 220–233.
Madhujith, T., & Shahidi, F. (2005). Antioxidant potential of pea beans (Phaseolus
vulgaris L.). Journal of Food Science, 70, S85–S90.
Mayachiew, P., & Devahastin, S. (2008). Antimicrobial and antioxidant activity of
Indian goose berry and galangal extracts. LWT – Food Science and Technology, 41,
1153–1159.
Naczka, M., & Shahidi, F. (2004). Extraction and analysis of phenolics in food. Journal
of Chromatography A, 1054, 95–111.
Nemecek, T., Richthofen, J. S., Casta, P., Charles, R., & Pahl, H. (2008). Environmental
impacts of introducing grain legumes into European crop rotations. European
Journal of Agronomy, 28, 380–393.
Oyaizu, M. (1986). Studies on products of browning reactions: Antioxidant activities
of products of browning reaction prepared from glucosamine. Journal of
Nutrition, 44, 307–315.
Qi, H. M., Zhang, Q. B., Zhao, T. T., Chen, R., Zhang, H., & Niu, X. Z. (2005). Antioxidant
activity of different sulfate content derivatives of polysaccharide extracted from
Ulva pertusa (Chlorophyta) in vitro. International Journal of Biological
Macromolecules, 37, 195–199.
Scalbert, A., Manach, C., Morand, C., Remesy, C., & Jimenez, L. (2005). Dietary
polyphenols and the prevention of diseases. Critical Review in Food Science and
Nutrition, 45, 287–306.
Siddhuraju, P. (2006). The antioxidant activity and free radical-scavenging capacity
of phenolics of raw and dry heated moth bean (Vigna aconitifolia) (Jacq.)
Marechal seed extracts. Food Chemistry, 99, 149–157.
Siddhuraju, P., & Manian, S. (2007). The antioxidant activity and free radical
scavenging capacity of dietary phenolic extracts from horse gram (Macrotyloma
uniflorum (Lam). Verdc.) seeds. Food Chemistry, 105, 950–958.
Siddhuraju, P., Mohan, P. S., & Becker, K. (2002). Studies on the antioxidant activity
of Indian Laburnum (Cassia fistula L.): A preliminary assessment of crude
extracts from stem bark, leaves, flowers and fruit pulp. Food Chemistry, 79,
61–67.
Sreeramulu, D., Reddy, C. V. K., & Raghunath, M. (2009). Antioxidant activity of
commonly consumed cereals, millets, pulses in India. Indian Journal of
Biochemistry & Biophysics, 46, 112–115.
Velioglu, Y. S., Mazza, G., & Gao, L. (1998). Antioxidant activity and total phenolics in
selected fruits, vegetables and products. Journal of Agriculture and Food
Chemistry, 46, 4113–4117.
Xu, B. J., Yuan, S. H., & Chang, S. K. C. (2007). Comparative analyses of phenolic
composition, antioxidant capacity, and color of cool season legumes and other
selected food legumes. Journal of Food Science, 72, S167–S177.
Yu, L., Quan, C. L., & Wen, S. Z. (2008). The effect of chickpea peptide on scavenging
free radicals. Food Science and Technology, 34, 173–176.