Nutritional constituent and health benefits of chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.): A review.

Junyu Wang, Yonghui Li, Ang Li, Rui Hai Liu, Xin Gao, Dan Li, Xiaohong Kou, Zhaohui Xue

Journal: Food research international (Ottawa, Ont.) 2021;150(Pt A):110790

PMID: 34865805

Abstract

Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.), an annual plant of the Fabaceae family, is mainly grown in temperate and semiarid regions. Its biological activity and beneficial contribution to human health have been scientifically confirmed as an essential source of nutritional components. The objective of this review was to summarize and update latest available scientific data and information, on bioactive components in chickpea, bio-activities, and molecular mechanisms, which has mainly focused on the detection of relevant biochemical indicators, the regulation of signaling pathways, essential genes and proteins. The studies have shown that chickpea have significant multifunctional activities, which are closely related to the functionally active small molecule peptides and phytochemicals of chickpea. Significantly, numerous studies have only addressed the functional activity and mechanisms of single active components of chickpea, however, overlooking the synergy and antagonism between chickpea components, changes of functional active components in different processing methods, as well as the active form of the substances after human digestion and metabolism. Additionally, due to limitations in research methods and techniques, the structure of most functional active substances have not been determined, which makes it difficult to conduct interaction mechanism studies. Consequently, the significant bio-activity of the functional components of chickpea, synergistic and antagonistic effects and activity differences between bioactive components should be further studied.

Copyright © 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Address: Department of Food Science, School of Chemical Engineering and Technology, Tianjin University, 300350 Tianjin, China. Electronic address: [email protected].; Cardiovascular Department, Tianjin Fourth Center Hospital, Tianjin 300140, China. Electronic address: [email protected].; Department of Food Science, School of Chemical Engineering and Technology, Tianjin University, 300350 Tianjin, China. Electronic address: [email protected].; Department of Food Science, Stocking Hall, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA. Electronic address: [email protected].; Department of Food Science, School of Chemical Engineering and Technology, Tianjin University, 300350 Tianjin, China. Electronic address: [email protected].; Department of Food Science, School of Chemical Engineering and Technology, Tianjin University, 300350 Tianjin, China. Electronic address: [email protected].; Department of Food Science, School of Chemical Engineering and Technology, Tianjin University, 300350 Tianjin, China. Electronic address: [email protected].; Department of Food Science, School of Chemical Engineering and Technology, Tianjin University, 300350 Tianjin, China. Electronic address: [email protected].

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