Legume fermentation: Nutritional benefits and emerging applications.

Bacterial and Fungal Fermentation to Improve the Nutritional Value of Legumes: Opportunities in the Development of Sustainable Plant Proteins

Fermentation as a Lever to Enhance Legume Proteins: From Antinutritional Factors to Improved Quality

Owing to their high nutritional value, functional proteins, and low environmental impact, legume proteins have emerged as sustainable alternatives to animal proteins. However, their broader utilization is constrained by antinutritional factors (ANFs), which can adversely affect protein digestibility, mineral bioavailability, and techno-functional features. Fermentation has appeared as a promising approach to overcoming these limitations. Through microbial and enzymatic activities, fermentation can reduce ANFs, modify protein structures, and promote proteolysis, generating peptides and free amino acids that may improve digestibility, bioavailability, and functional properties. This review critically explores the effects of fermentation on legume proteins, concentrating on ANF reduction, protein degradation and structural modification, proteolysis, and their consequences for nutritional and techno-functional properties. Particular attention is given to protein hydrolysis and peptide generation, as well as the limitations and potential trade-offs of fermentation, including extreme proteolysis, loss of desirable functional properties, unwanted sensory changes, variability among strains and substrates, and prolonged processing. The review also discusses the incorporation of fermented legume proteins into relevant food systems, with emphasis on their functional performance and application potential. Finally, current knowledge gaps and future research priorities are highlighted to support the development of controlled fermentation strategies for nutritionally improved, functionally tailored, and industrially feasible legume protein ingredients.

Emerging Sustainable Processing Technologies for Fava Beans: Enhancing Nutritional Quality and A Pathway to Plant-Based Nutrition

Faba bean (Vicia faba L.) is a protein-rich legume with a high potential to be used for plant-based protein and responsible food systems, it is an eco-friendly legume. Its high protein content and balanced amino acid profile along with its high content of dietary fibre and bioactive compounds make it a promising alternative to animal protein sources. Although these benefits, the potential use of faba beans in food products has been hampered by the presence of anti-nutritional factors like vicine and convicine, and protein digestibility and sensory acceptability problems. The present review critically discusses recent developments in sustainable processing technologies aimed at enhancing the nutritional value, protein digestibility and bioavailability of beneficial compounds of faba beans. Apart from the traditional methods like soaking, autoclaving and thermal fermentation, novel methods like enzymatic hydrolysis, ultrasonication and pulsed electric field (PEF) processing are evaluated. In addition to the traditional methods (soaking, autoclaving and thermal fermentation), novel methods like enzymatic hydrolysis, ultrasonication and pulsed electric field (PEF) processing are evaluated. Such strategies are successful in reducing ANFs, improving protein functionality and digestibility, and making bioactive compounds more available, and enhancing sensory properties. Such improvements help to enable the incorporation of faba beans in innovative food products, such as plant based meat replacement, snacks and value added products etc. Moreover, it is noteworthy that biotechnological approaches with the use of specific enzymes and probiotic microorganisms have great potential to reduce the amount of vicine and convicine and enhance nutritional safety. Several green extraction technologies are also available to recover high value phytochemicals in an efficient manner, including ultrasound-assisted extraction and supercritical CO2 extraction. Collectively, these processing strategies emphasize the important role of faba beans in promoting plant-based diets, food security, and sustainable food innovation.

Fermented Agri-Food By-Products from Tubers and Legumes as Next-Generation Functional Ingredients: From Waste Valorisation to Precision Nutrition

Processing tubers such as potato, sweet potato, cassava, and yam, as well as legumes such as soybean, pea, chickpea, bean, and lentil, generates substantial quantities of peels, pulps, husks, and press cakes that retain considerable nutritional and functional value despite often being discarded. Microbial fermentation has emerged as a low-cost and scalable approach for valorising these residues into functional ingredients with improved digestibility and enhanced bioactive-compound content. This study synthesises the composition of major tuber and legume by-products, the solid-state and submerged fermentation systems employed for their bioconversion, and the biochemical and functional transformations achieved through fermentation, including improvements in antioxidant activity, prebiotic potential, antihyperglycaemic properties, and protein quality. The emerging applications of these fermented by-products in bakery products, dairy alternatives, snacks, nutraceuticals, and the conceptually related field of gut-microbiome-guided precision nutrition are also examined. Persistent challenges, including compositional variability, safety monitoring, and regulatory classification, are critically evaluated alongside strategies for addressing these limitations. Overall, fermentation-based valorisation of tuber and legume residues represents a scientifically credible and environmentally sustainable strategy for transforming agri-food waste streams into value-added, functional nutrition ingredients.

Sourdough fermentation as a modulator of nutritional quality in cereal-based baked products.

Sourdough fermentation, an ancient food bioprocessing technology, has attracted renewed attention for its positive impact on the nutritional profile and sensory attributes of leavened baked products. This process relies on the symbiotic activity between lactic acid bacteria and yeasts, which leads to acidification, proteolysis, enzyme activation, and metabolite synthesis, altering the dough and the final product. Growing consumer demand for healthy foods has prompted researchers and manufacturers to explore sourdough technology for the development of nutritious and functional baked goods with health benefits. This review provides a critical synthesis of current knowledge, with particular emphasis on linking fermentation mechanisms to nutritional outcomes and their relevance in modern food systems. Specifically, the multifaceted influence of sourdough technology on several macronutrients is explored. Previous research indicates that sourdough fermentation can lower the glycemic response, enhance protein digestibility, increase phenolic compounds, and improve mineral bioavailability. Despite these promising effects, the mechanistic basis underlying such nutritional improvements remains underexplored, particularly under controlled and industrial processing conditions. This review highlights key research gaps, including the scalability of sourdough production for nutritious food development and the specific fermentation mechanisms that promote human health. Variability in fermentation practices across artisanal and industrial settings further complicates the reproducibility of these effects. Addressing these gaps through supplemental research is essential both for consumers seeking healthy food options and for the food industry as it aims to innovate and meet market demands. © 2026 The Author(s). Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Society of Chemical Industry.

Application of Functional Microorganisms in Seed-Based Fermentation for the Production of Nutritionally Enhanced and Bioactive Food Condiments: A Review

Fermentation remains one of the oldest and most effective biotechnological processes for improving food quality, safety, and shelf life. In Africa, the fermentation of seed-based substrates such as African locust bean ( Parkia biglobosa ), soybean ( Glycine max ), melon seed ( Citrullus lanatus ), Bambara groundnut ( Vigna subterranea ), and sesame ( Sesamum indicum ) plays a vital role in the production of traditional condiments, such as iru , dawadawa , ogiri , ugba , and okpehe. This review examines the application of functional microorganisms in the fermentation of seed-based substrates and their contributions to the enhancement of nutritional and bioactive properties of fermented food condiments. Functional microorganisms, including lactic acid bacteria, Bacillus species, yeasts, and selected fungi, facilitate complex biochemical transformations through enzymatic degradation of proteins, carbohydrates, and lipids. These activities improve nutrient bioavailability, protein digestibility, flavor development, and overall product quality. An ideal functional starter culture must possess several criteria that include safety status, enzymatic capability, acid tolerance, fermentation efficiency, and bioactive metabolite production, are discussed. The review highlights the mechanisms through which microbial fermentation promotes the production of bioactive compounds such as bioactive peptides, bacteriocins, short-chain fatty acids, gamma-aminobutyric acids, and antioxidant metabolites, many of which are associated with antihypertensive, antimicrobial, antioxidant, and gut-health-promoting effects. In addition, fermentation significantly reduces antinutritional factors such as phytates, tannins, oxalates, and trypsin inhibitors, thus enhancing mineral absorption and nutritional utilization. Overall, the integration of functional microorganisms into seed-based fermentation systems offers a sustainable approach to improving the nutritional value, safety, functionality, and commercial potential of traditional fermented condiments. This approach supports food security, promotes the valorization of indigenous seed resources, and contributes to the development of innovative functional foods aligned with modern nutritional and public health needs.