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ARS Home » Southeast Area » Raleigh, North Carolina » Soybean and Nitrogen Fixation Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #413720
Research Project: Exploiting Genetic Diversity to Improve Environmental Resilience, Seed Composition, Yield, and Profitability of U.S. Soybean

Location: Soybean and Nitrogen Fixation Research

Title: A review of bioactive compound effects from primary legume protein sources in human and animal health

Author
item Shea, Zachary
item FLETCHER, BODIE - Virginia Tech
item ORGANDO DE CAMPO, MATHEUS - Virginia Tech
item BEWICK, PATRICK - Virginia Tech
item ZHENG, YAOJIE - Virginia Tech
item WANG, ZHIBO - Danforth Plant Science Center
item SINGER, WILLIAM - Virginia Tech
item ZHANG, BO - Virginia Tech

Submitted to: Current Issues in Molecular Biology
Publication Type: Literature Review
Publication Acceptance Date: 4/30/2024
Publication Date: 5/1/2024
Citation: Shea, Z.A., Fletcher, B., Orgando De Campo, M., Bewick, P., Zheng, Y., Wang, Z., Singer, W.M., Zhang, B. 2024. A review of bioactive compound effects from primary legume protein sources in human and animal health. Current Issues in Molecular Biology. 46(5), 4203-4233. https://doi.org/10.3390/cimb46050257.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/cimb46050257

Interpretive Summary: Bioactive compounds are compounds, such as proteins, peptides, and enzymes, that are capable of having many positive beneficial effects including anti-cancer, anti-diabetic, antioxidant, anti-hypertension, and other properties. These compounds are found in a variety of sources but are high in quantity in many legumes, like soybean and pea. Due to these numerous benefits, they have gained a lot of attention for uses in research for human and animal health to treat a variety of issues, such as cancer, hypertension, diabetes, hypercholesterolemia, and more. Despite all of the information regarding these compounds in legumes no one has compared how different legumes compare in terms of bioactive compounds. Therefore, this review seeks to provide insight into the overall function of the major bioactive compounds found in legume species and compare how they differ between species in terms of types and abundance while also highlighting the impact these compounds have in human and animal health research.

Technical Abstract: The plant protein marker has gained more and more interest partly due to bioactive compounds and their numerous beneficial health effects. This review will particularly discuss and compare the major plant bioactive compounds, peptides, protein subunits, isoflavones, antinutritional factors, and saponins, between legumes as well as highlight their impact in research. All bioactive compounds discussed in this review had many health benefits, such as anticancer, anti-diabetic, anti-hypertension, and antioxidant properties, with bioactive peptides having the most. Based off research so far, it appears soybean has the most diverse bioactive compound profile but more research is needed to be done to fully determine this. Since these compounds have been found to have many health benefits in both humans and animals, it is likely they will be used in the future as medicines and other products.