Bioactive compounds in lentils and nutraceutical effects

Lentils are an endemic crop of central Italy in particular of Umbro-Marchean Apennines and some of these are recognized by the European Union with the acronym PGI, Protected Geographical Indication. Among pulses, lentils have high nutritional value and they are an important sources of bioactive compounds: besides nutrients such as PUFA (regulation of cognitive function, cardiovascular diseases prevention) there are important nutraceutical compounds such as soyasaponins (hypocholesterolemic, antiepatotoxic and anticarcinogenic activity) and isoflavones (osteoporosis prevention, ameloriation postmenopausal symptoms, tumor initiation prevention). In our labs, several methods to determine the above compounds have been validated and applied to lentils and other legumes using HPLC-MS, UHPLC-MS/MS, GC-FID systems. Furthermore, some in vivo and in vitro biological studies have been performed, such as anti-hypercholesterolemic effect on a rat model with diet induced hypercholesterolemia. Additionally, toxic effect of soyasaponins and lentil extracts have been studied in vitro on caco-2 cells. Results showed that soyasaponins I and βg are present in lentils in concentrations ranging from 541 to 1457 mg kg−1. The isoflavone content in lentils ranged from 0.41 to 58.61 μg kg-1. Unsaturated fatty acids are predominant in lentils with respect to saturated fatty acids. Soyasaponin I and lentil extracts no cytotoxic effect produced in Caco-2 cells at the tested concentrations. Lentils are an important source of bioactive compounds and lentils extracts may have a nutraceutical effect. References 1Vila-Donat, P.; Caprioli, G.; Conti, P.; Maggi, F.; Ricciutelli, M.; Torregiani E.; Vittori, S.; Sagratini, G., Food Anal. Meth., 2013, DOI 10.1007/s12161-013-9708-3. 2Vila-Donat, P., Caprioli, G., Maggi, F., Ricciutelli, M., Torregiani, E., Vittori, S., Sagratini, G., Food Chem., submitted. 3Folch, J., Lees, M., Sloane Stanley, G. H. (1956). J. Biol. Chem., 1956, 226, 497-509.