18E-18

L. G. ESPINOSA-ALONSO¹, O. Paredes-López², A. Lygin³, and J. Widholm³. (1) Biotecnologia de Plantas, Centro de Investigacion y de Estudios Avanzados del Instituto Politecnico Nacional. Unidad Irapuato, km 9.6 Libramiento Norte, Carr. Irapuato-Leon, Irapuato, Gto. México, 629 36500, Mexico, (2) Biotecnología de Plantas, Centro de Investigación y de Estudios Avanzados del Instituto Politécnico Nacional, Unidad Irapuato, Km 9.6 Libramiento Norte, Carr. Irapuato-León, Irapuato, Gto., México, 629 36500, (3) Crop Sciences, Univ. of Illinois, 1201 W. Gregory Drive, Urbana, IL 61801

Common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris) is an important source of proteins, carbohydrates, vitamins and minerals. Recently it has received attention as a functional food; its components may play a role in prevention of chronic diseases. Particularly, phenolic compounds have shown antioxidant, anti-mutagenic and anti-carcinogenic biological activities. They are present in the seed coats of beans. Wild beans show more genetic variability than cultivated beans and more background in their pigmentation. The objective was to quantify the phenolic compounds in 62 Mexican wild accessions. Bean seeds were milled to obtain raw flour. Total phenolic compound, anthocyanins and condensed tannins were measured by spectrophotometric methods; phenolic acids and flavonoids were quantified by HPLC . Wild accessions showed the total phenolic level ranged between 0.91 and 1.97 mg gallic acid equivalents/g flour; it's higher than reported for cultivated beans. Condensed tannin levels were 9.17-35.70 mg catechin equivalents/g flour; accessions with yellow and brown seeds showed higher contents. Anthocyanins ranged between 0.01 and 1.73 mg cyanidine equivalents/g flour, they not were founded only in black beans. The levels of phenolic acids were (22.7-263.5 µg/g flour), ferullic, sinapic, vanillic and coumaric, were predominated. 62 accessions contended the flavonoid kaempherol (3.5–151.7 µg/g flour) and quercetin (0-33 µg/g flour), in a few accessions a small amount of isoflavonoids daidzein , genistein and coumestrol were found. We identified wild bean accessions as important sources of phenolic compounds, which can be used for the improvement of cultivated beans thus adding a significant biological function to the diet.

Session 18E, Nutraceutical & Functional Foods: General I
2:00 PM - 5:30 PM, Sunday PM Room Hall I-2

2005 IFT Annual Meeting, July 15-20 - New Orleans, Louisiana