Impact of household food processing strategies on antinutrient (phytate, tannin and polyphenol) contents of chickpeas (Cicer arietinum L.) and beans (Phaseolus vulgaris L.): a review

Pulses, which include beans and chickpeas, are major constituents of the human diet. They are important sources of energy and nutrients, particularly protein, folate and minerals. However, they also contain antinutrients which bind minerals, mainly iron and zinc, rendering them less bioavailable or unavailable for absorption. The levels of these antinutrients may be reduced by food processing techniques such as soaking and germination. Researchers have used these techniques in a number of studies; however, there is no consensus regarding the optimum processing conditions for reduction in the levels of these antinutrients. Thus, this review was conducted to describe the results of studies on soaking and germination of chickpeas and beans. A systematic search was carried out utilising Food Science and Technology Abstracts (FSTA) (1969 to present), Web of Science (1899 to present) and Scopus (1823 to present). A total of thirty-three articles were reviewed. Both soaking and germination resulted in significant but variable degrees of reduction in levels of antinutrients in most studies.