Mechanism of Action, Toxicity and Nutritional Significance of Heat-Labile Antinutritional Factors in Some Legumes: A Review

Legumes which are widely consumed all over the world have constituent that depress their utilization. Some of these constituents called antinutritional factor, trypsin inhibitor and haemagglutinin, are heat-labile. Trypsin inhibitor inhibits growth by interfering with the digestion of protein in the intestine of animals thereby causing hypertrophy of the pancreas. Unless legumes are heated before consumption, methionine would be slowly liberated by the proteolytic enzymes and its absorption delayed. Because iectins are capable of agglutinating red blood cells, intake of or improperly cooked legumes is deleterious. Phytohaemagglutinins are known to exert a non-selective adverse effect on the absorption of nutrients form the intestinal tract rather than a direct effect on the digestive process.