Edible bean sprouts are fresh vegetables popular worldwide, especially in some Asian countries. We cultivated 12 common edible bean sprouts and analyzed their antioxidant capacity and phenolic composition. Compared to raw seeds, germination led to accumulation of antioxidant phenolics in most of the sprouts. In addition, sprouts showed a wide range of antioxidant capacity and total phenolic content (TPC), with lower but substantial antioxidant capacity and TPC in their bound fractions. Phenolic compounds, such as catechin, ellagic acid, ferulic acid, gallic acid and <i>p</i>-coumaric acid were widely detected in the sprouts. Interestingly, the green and black mung bean sprouts were found to have the highest levels of antioxidant capacity and TPC, which increased in a time-dependent manner during a 5-day germination period, accompanied with a gradual increase of several phytochemicals, such as ascorbic acid, caffeic acid, <i>p</i>-coumaric acid and rutin. Furthermore, hot air drying at 70 and 80 °C for 24 h was found to notably increase antioxidant phenolics in the green mung bean sprouts, simultaneously with evident browning, suggesting that antioxidant phenolics and browning pigments may be the main contributors of antioxidant capacity in hot air dried mung bean sprouts. Overall, germination plus hot air drying is an excellent bioprocessing strategy to enhance antioxidant phenolics in edible beans. Fresh sprouts rich in antioxidant phenolics can be consumed as functional vegetables, and hot air dried sprout powders can be utilized as natural food additives, such as for adding to bread or noodles to fortify their antioxidant contents.

Edible bean sprouts as a dietary source of antioxidant phenolics

253rd National Meeting (2017)

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