Chemical, nutritional, and spectroscopic characterization of typical ecotypes of Mediterranean area beans

Recent considerations have highlighted thegreat potential that can arise from extinct ecotypes aboveall in the so-called marginal areas, where the exploitationof these crops may have the environmental protection value,and in addition, a social value promoting employment inthe areas subjects to depopulation. Moreover, many studieshave confirmed that regularly consume of beans andother legumes helps to prevent and cure several degenerativediseases. Therefore, in the present work, four "niche"bean ecotypes were characterized from morphological andhealth point of view to exalt their territorial vocation andgive it a sort of identity card or food fingerprint. Beans werecharacterized by chemical composition, fatty acid, sterols'profile, and micro/macroelements. The results of this studysuggest that the chemical and biochemical characteristicsof different bean local Mediterranean ecotypes can beconsidered of high nutritional quality from a health pointof view and their consumption is also a way to preservethe agricultural biodiversity. Among the varieties examined,there is someone richer in health components (sterols,polyunsaturated fatty acids, and some macroelements)than others. Polyunsaturated fatty acids predominated in allsamples, ranging from 44 to 72% of total fatty acids, whilethey exhibited always the following phytosterol profiles:?-sitosterol > stigmasterol > ?5-avenasterol > campesterol.Brassicasterol was absent in all analyzed samples. Amongthe four legumes (dry matter), sample Q had the highest concentrationof Potassium (14.41 g Kg-1) and calcium (2.32 gKg-1), while the same elements resulted lowest in sampleM (11.3 and 0.82 g Kg-1, respectively). Magnesium contentresulted major in ecotype Z (16.46 g Kg-1) and B (15.90 gKg-1). Concerning the mean concentrations of microelementsin all the analyzed samples, the order was found to be:Fe > Zn > Mn > Cu > Mo > Ni. Finally, ATR-FTIR spectracould give an immediately evaluation semi-quantitative ofmacronutritional components of analyzed samples.