Legumes are valuable food ingredients in a growing number of products, which calls for increasing insight into the nutritional quality and functional properties

In future plant-based diets, legumes will play an important role. In Denmark, various Faba bean, lupin and soy cultivars can be grown, but little is known of how their nutritional value and functional properties vary. The aim of the project is to evaluate the variation in these parameters relative to different legumes and specific cultivars of Danish grown faba beans, lupins and soy varieties.

In the project, pulses can be analysed for a selection of nutritional quality parameters including protein content, amino acid composition, micronutrients, antinutritional factors (e.g. alkaloids, vicine and convicine, trypsin inhibitors), and protein composition using e.g. ICP-MS, HPLC, LC-MS and 1D/2D gels. Besides determining the nutritional quality, additional properties related to e.g. protein extraction, fractionation, and processing can be studied including the effects of these on protein functionality and digestibility.

The project is aligned with ongoing research projects and related collaborations.