Sensory Characteristics and Nutritional Quality of Food Products Made with a Biofortified and Lectin Free Common Bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) Flour

Common beans (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) are an important source of nutrients with beneficialeffects on human health. However, they contain lectins, that limit the direct use of flour in foodpreparations without thermal treatment, and phytic acid, that reduces mineral cation bioavailability.The objectives of this research were: to obtain biofortified snacks and a cream using an untreatedcommon bean flour devoid of active lectins (lec-) and with reduced content of phytic acid (lpa) andto evaluate the sensorial appreciation for these products. The main results of the present work were:the products with the lpa lec- flour did not retain residual hemagglutinating activity due to lectins;they showed higher residual ?-amylase inhibitor activity (from 2.2 to 135 times), reduced in vitropredicted glycemic index (about 5 units reduction) and increased iron bioavailability compared tothe products with wild type flour; products with common bean flour were less appreciated than thereference ones without this flour, but the presence of an intense umami taste can be a positive attribute.Results confirmed that the use of the lpa lec- flour has important advantages in the preparation of safeand nutritionally improved products, and provide useful information to identify target consumers,such as children and elderly people.