Professor University of Manitoba Winnipeg, MB, Canada
Abstract: Antinutritional factors are abundant in plants and therefore, constitute an important part of the human daily diet. These compounds exert their negative effects on human health through a series of reactions that include enzyme inhibition, reductions in nutrient absorption or bioavailability, cell lysis or aggregation, and several others. Typical examples of these antinutritional factors in plant foods include protease inhibitors, saponins, lectins, phytic acid, saponins, tannins, and goitrogens. Activities of these factors can lead to severe health problems, including anemia, constipation, reduced growth, hormonal imbalances, mineral deficiency, and malnutrition. However, the negative impact of these factors can be minimized or eliminated through various processing methods that inactivate the toxic compounds. The most common strategies for reducing, neutralizing, or eliminating antinutritional factors include the use of heat, fermentation, dehulling, soaking, and germination. Heat is an effective method to inactivate protein-based antinutritional factors such as enzyme inhibitors. This is because, heating unfolds proteins, which reduces or prevents binding to target enzymes. Unfolding of the antinutritional protein also makes it more susceptible to hydrolysis and inactivation by proteases. Similarly, during fermentation or germination, proteases are produced, which break down the antinutritional proteins. Soaking can be an effective method because it enhances leaching of water-soluble antinutritional factors such as proteins, phytates and polyphenolic compounds out of the food. During dehulling, the outer coats of seeds are removed along with the contents of phytates, tannins, and saponins to leave behind a healthier endosperm. To enhance efficiency, two or more methods such as soaking followed by cooking can be combined during processing to remove or inactivate antinutritional factors in foods. Overall, while plant-based foods contain antinutritional factors, the negative impact on human health can be considerably reduced or prevented through traditional food preparation methods.
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