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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.

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Trypsin inhibitors in grain legumes decrease the digestibility of protein and cause pancreatic enlargement. Seed samples of 17 field pea cultivars grown at 5 locations and 9 grass pea lines grown at 2 locations in western Canada during 1993 and 1994 were analyzed for trypsin inhibitor activity (TIA). TIAs in field pea differed significantly among cultivars. Mean TIA in field pea ranged from 2.22 trypsin inhibitor unit (TIU) mg-1 of dry matter (DM) for Danto to 7.66 TIU mg-1 of DM for Baroness. Cultivar accounted for more of the total variability (55%) in field pea than environment (18%). TIAs in grass pea did not differ among cultivars or environments. The mean TIA was 27.51 TIU mg-1 of DM for the grass pea lines tested. The correlation between the levels of TIA and seed yield was near zero in field pea and grass pea. Keywords: Field pea; grass pea; Lathyrus sativus L.; Pisum sativum L.; trypsin inhibitor activity

A crude enzyme extracted from flaxseed by acetone precipitation was used for the hydrolysis of cyanogenic glycosides to determine total cyanide in flaxseed and flaxseed-derived products. The hydrolysis of cyanogenic glycosides (linamarin, linustatin, and neolinustatin) as well as the endogenous substrate was dependent on the crude enzyme concentration and followed a first-order relationship. Two colorimetric methods using the crude enzyme extract and an established high-performance liquid chromatographic (HPLC) method were compared using 28 flaxseed samples. Total HCN values obtained by all three methods were not statistically different, although those obtained by the HPLC method were higher than those from the colorimetric methods. Keywords: Flaxseed; cyanogenic glycosides; method comparison; crude enzyme extract; Linum usitatissimum; barbituric acid−pyridine; HPLC

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Lipoxygenase content of meal from eight flaxseed cultivars grown for 3 years at four locations in western Canada was evaluated to examine genotypic and environmental effects. Flaxseed, on average, contained 1.6−6.0 g of lipoxygenase/kg of meal. Lipoxygenase content in flaxseed was cultivar specific and strongly influenced by environmental conditions. Variation in lipoxygenase content was predominantly due to cultivar × location × year interaction. Seasonal differences in lipoxygenase enzyme content were significant at most locations. In flaxseed, lipoxygenase content was independent of oil and protein contents but was inversely related to the kinetic lag period. The lipoxygenase enzyme was expressed mainly in the embryo with only partial enzyme expression in the seed coat or hull of flaxseed. Keywords: Flaxseed; lipoxygenase; lag period; cultivar effects; seasonal variations; stability; environment; flaxseed hull; Linum usitatissimum

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