Legumes in nutrition: understanding and applying scientific data today

During the last decades, a huge amount of data has been made available to the scientific community and to the society about the effects of legume consumption on human and livestock nutrition and health. Attention was especially placed on grain legume as such or on single isolated components. As a consequence, legumes have been seen under a new light in Western countries. This positive perception also bathes legume byproducts. It is now accepted that several molecules from le- gumes that have been described as toxic or unhealthy components may have positive functions if considered from a wider point of view. The role of some of these molecules have been reconsidered and their biological activities exploited in pharmacological, medical, cosmetic and food applications. Because of the vastity of the seed components and the many facets of the topic, two very different approaches are feasible to produce scientific results about the biological activities and the effects of legume-derived molecules. The first one is to put forth the most prominent results about each legume class of molecules, namely proteins, carbohydrates and non-nutrient compounds. The second one is to analyze separately every disease against whom legume seed components have been proved to be effective. Both have pros and cons. The topic is hot and thus this area of study is rapidly expanding and new knowledge has been accumulating from day to day. The search for novel activities is pursued along with the elucidation of the underlaying molecular mechanisms of the observed effects, including intestinal absorption and bioavailability. One reason for this alive- ness is the burst of consumers’ interests toward nutritional/ dietary issues and the increased industrial expectations that ensue. Another reason is the growing availability of analytical in vivo/in vitro methodologies, which allow more accurate analyses even on minor food components or when the sample is very small. Searching for a direct cause/effect relationships between food components and bioactivities has been providing a deeper understanding of the effects themselves and of the related mechanisms of action. The role of synergic effects of several legume seed components is now emerging.