Nutritional Significance of Lectins and Enzyme Inhibitors from Legumes
Abstract
Legumes have natural components, such as lectins, amylase, and trypsin inhibitors, that may adversely affect their nutritional properties. Much information has already been obtained on their antinutritional significance and how to inactivate them by proper processing. Chronic ingestion of residual levels is unlikely to pose risks to human health. On the other hand, the ability of these molecules to inhibit some enzymes such as trypsin, chymotrypsin, disaccharidases, and alpha-amylases, to selectively bind to glycoconjugates, and to enter the circulatory system may be a useful tool in nutrition and pharmacology. Trypsin inhibitors have also been studied as cancer risk reducing factors. These components seem to act as plant defense substances. However, increased contents may represent an impairment of the nutritional quality of legumes because these glycoproteins and the sulfur-rich protease inhibitors have been shown to be poorly digested and to participate in chemical reactions during processing reducing protein digestibility, a still unsolved question.
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Trypsin inhibitors, raffinose, and phytic acid are associated with reduced cancer risk.
“and trypsin inhibitors, raffinose, and phytic acid are associated with reduced cancer risk [33,38,39].”
From Valorization of Microalgae as Multifunctional Protein Sources in Plant-Based Systems: Structural, Functional, and Processing Challenges (2026) · cites this paper as [38]
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- Authors
- Lajolo, F. M., & Genovese, M. I.
- Affiliations
- Universidade de São Paulo (BR)
- Venue
- Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry
- Publisher
- American Chemical Society (ACS)
- Published
- 2002-09-24
- Volume
- 50
- Issue
- 22
- Pages
- 6592-6598
- ISSN
- 0021-8561 (ISSN-L)
- 1520-5118
- OpenAlex
- W2062846964
- Cited by
- 211
- References
- 56
- Citations by year
- 2026: 5 · 2025: 6 · 2024: 5 · 2023: 7 · 2022: 10 · 2021: 12 · 2020: 14 · 2019: 16 · 2018: 15 · 2017: 15 · 2016: 10 · 2015: 14 · 2014: 11 · 2013: 5 · 2012: 14
- FWCI
- 4.54
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Food Science › Food and Agricultural Sciences
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Plant Science › Phytase and its Applications
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Glycosylation and Glycoproteins Research
- Keywords
- Fabaceae, lectins, enzyme inhibitors, trypsin inhibitor, amylase inhibitors, antinutritional factors, protein digestibility, glycoproteins, plant defense compounds, cancer risk reduction, legume processing, nutritional value
- MeSH terms
- Cooking, Digestion, Enzyme Inhibitors, Food Handling, Fabaceae, Nutritive Value, Plant Proteins, Plant Lectins
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