Abstract
The US Department of Agriculture’s MyPyramid guidelines introduced a near doubling of the dietary recommendations for vegetables including dry beans—an important food staple in many traditional diets that can improve public health and nutrition. Populations with high legume (peas, beans, lentils) consumption have a low risk of cancer and chronic degenerative diseases. Common beans (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) are known as a rich, reliable source of non-digested compounds like fiber, phenolics, peptides and phytochemicals that are associated with health benefits. Emerging evidence indicates that common bean consumption is associated with reduced cancer risk in human populations, inhibiting carcinogenesis in animal models and inducing cell cycle arrest and apoptosis in cell cultures. Fiber may reduce the risk of premature death from all causes, whereas the whole non-digestible fraction from common beans exhibits anti-proliferative activity and induces apoptosis in vitro and in vivo colon cancer. The mechanisms responsible for this apparently protective role may include gene-nutrient interactions and modulation of proteins’ expression. This review investigates the potential health benefits and bioactivity of beans on tumor inhibition, highlighting studies involving functional compounds, mainly non-digestible fractions that modulate genes and proteins, thereby, unraveling their preventive role against the development of cancer.
Highlights
Dry common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) is a legume widely consumed throughout the world and is considered a good source of high protein (23%), complex carbohydrates, dietary fiber and some vitamins and minerals
Chemists (AACC) defines dietary fiber (DF) as “the edible parts of plants or analogous carbohydrates that are resistant to digestion and absorption in the human small intestine with complete or partial fermentation in the large intestine” and it consists of polysaccharides, oligosaccharides, lignin and associated plant substances [2]
(soluble and insoluble), lectins, unsaturated fatty acids, phytic acid, trypsin inhibitors, and other secondary metabolites related to the prevention and/or reduction of chronic degenerative diseases [1,18,19,20]. Some of these components (non-digestible fraction (NDF) and phenolic compounds) may reach the colon to be fermented by the microflora, producing mainly short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) such as acetic, propionic, and butyric acids [21]
Summary
Dry common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) is a legume widely consumed throughout the world and is considered a good source of high protein (23%), complex carbohydrates, dietary fiber and some vitamins and minerals. The consumption of dry common beans has been associated with reduced risk of several chronic and degenerative diseases such as cancer, obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular diseases. Carbohydrates constitute the main fraction of beans (55%–65% dry weight on average) with polysaccharides as the major constituents, and small but significant amounts of oligosaccharides (31%–76% of total sugars). The carbohydrate-oligosaccharide fraction of beans includes starch, soluble sugars and dietary fiber. Chemists (AACC) defines dietary fiber (DF) as “the edible parts of plants or analogous carbohydrates that are resistant to digestion and absorption in the human small intestine with complete or partial fermentation in the large intestine” and it consists of polysaccharides (such as cellulose, hemicellulose and pectins), oligosaccharides, lignin and associated plant substances [2]. The mechanism of action implicated in these health benefits is limited
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