NUTRITIONAL AND BENEFICIAL EFFECTS OF GRAIN LEGUMES ON HUMAN HEALTH

The Leguminosae is one of the most important botanical families from a nutritional perspective, constituting one of the main ingredients in the Mediterranean diet and an essential food in developing countries. Grain legumes like chickpea, lentil, lupin, pea and beans are well known sources of proteins, starch, fiber, vitamins and minerals. In this paper, scientific evidence for the role of legumes in human nutrition, as well as the preventive properties of some of their bioactive components in diseases like type-2 diabetes, hypercholesterolemia, hypertension, obesity, inflammatory diseases and cancer, are considered. Finally, data of consumption in Spanish households was analyzed, where a 60% decrease has been observed over the last decades. This trend must be reversed by implementing policies to promote healthy diet and by adapting to a new market by means of developing novel products oriented to consumer preferences.