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The Nutritional Value of Legumes and Implications for Human Health

A special issue of Nutrients (ISSN 2072-6643). This special issue belongs to the section "Phytochemicals and Human Health".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 25 July 2026 | Viewed by 473

Special Issue Editor


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Guest Editor
School of Food and Health, Beijing Advanced Innovation Center for Food Nutrition and Human Health, Beijing Technology and Business University, Beijing 100048, China
Interests: whole food plant-based diet; pulses; cereals; pseudocereals; bioactive compounds; gut microbiome; metabolome; metabolic disease
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleague,

Legumes, as a sustainable source of nutrients, are an important choice for human diets. There are many types of legumes, such as beans, peas, chickpeas, lentils, lupins, cowpeas, pigeon peas and others. Moreover, they are rich in bioactive compounds, mainly including Proteins/peptides, polyphenols, polysaccharides and have received an increased interest for their contribution to antioxidant, anti-obesity and cholesterol-lowering, antihypertensive, anti-cancer and antidiabetic properties, which enable them to have immense potential in human health and food industry. Exploring the relationship between legumes and their bioactive compounds with human health is crucial for promoting their development and utilization.

We are inviting contributions from scholars working on the biological activities of legumes, including their molecular mechanisms and potential prebiotic activity in human diseases. Contributions can be original research articles or up-to-date reviews (systematic reviews and meta-analyses).

Dr. Dianzhi Hou
Guest Editor

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Keywords

  • legumes
  • proteins
  • peptides
  • polyphenols
  • polysaccharides
  • in vitro and in vivo biological activity
  • metabolic diseases
  • gut health

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Review

30 pages, 1683 KB  
Review
Polyphenols from Pulses: Recent Advances in Gut Health Benefits and Strategies to Elevate Their Concentrations
by Jiakai Wang, Rong Wei, Jiahong Wang, Ting Bai, Xinjie Jiang, Sumei Zhou and Dianzhi Hou
Nutrients 2026, 18(12), 1895; https://doi.org/10.3390/nu18121895 - 11 Jun 2026
Viewed by 100
Abstract
Pulses are rich in diverse phenolic compounds, which play a vital role in human health. The biological activity of pulses’ polyphenols is highly dependent on their interaction with the gastrointestinal tract and gut microbiota. Polyphenols from pulses have been proven to be effective [...] Read more.
Pulses are rich in diverse phenolic compounds, which play a vital role in human health. The biological activity of pulses’ polyphenols is highly dependent on their interaction with the gastrointestinal tract and gut microbiota. Polyphenols from pulses have been proven to be effective in the regulation of gut homeostasis, exerting antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects, and alleviating various intestinal health problems caused by chronic diseases, thus receiving extensive attention. Furthermore, in view of the prebiotic potential of pulse polyphenols in gut health, they can be enriched by fermentation, germination, and physical-assisted technologies to realize their effective applications. In this review, we systematically summarize and analyze the phenolic compound profiles, which confer extensive gut health benefits, with emphasis on their potential enrichment strategies. A better understanding of polyphenols in pulses may open up new avenues for their application in the development of functional foods. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Nutritional Value of Legumes and Implications for Human Health)
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