Assessment of Chemical Potentials in Three Different Types of Legumes for Managing Diabetics

Legumes provide basic nutrition, rich sources of bioactive phytochemicals which are beneficial in various health conditions. The aim of the research work was to assess three legume species for their chemical composition. The samples of Urad bean (Vigna mungo), Yard bean (Phaselous vulgaris) and Black bean (Phaselous vulgaris) were brought from Abuja, prepared and analyzed for their phytochemicals, antioxidants and glycemic index compositions using standard methods. The results of the chemical composition of the samples, Urad bean, Yard bean and Black bean respectively for. phytochemical screening for both water and ethanol extract showed the presence of cardiac glycoside, protein and saponin in the three samples. The antioxidant properties were total phenol (42.24, 6.64 and 11.75) mg/g, ferric reducing antioxidant (28.18, 31.04 and 37.41) mg/g, iron chelating (63.80, 67.26 and 75.30) mg/g and DPPH (2, 2 –diphenyl-1-picryhydrazyl) (47.28, 53.42 and 58.46 %). The anti-nutritional composition were oxalate (0.00 mg/g, 0.00 mg/g and 0.00 mg/g) phytate (5.01, 4.88 and 5.96 %), alkaloid (8.61, 5.21 and 11.20)% and saponin (6.02, 5.57 and 6.78 %). The starch, amylopectin, amylose and glycemic index of yard bean, black bean and urad bean respectively were (9.20, 10.52 and 17.44 %), (41.63, 43,37 and 49.79 %), (50.83, 53-89 and 67.13 %) and (34.17, 24.68 and 36.38 %). In conclusion the three seeds contained good and adequate antioxidant properties that could help in fighting various cardiovascular and other diseases. The low glycemic index in the seeds proved them to be good sources of foods required by diabetic patients to manage diabetic disease and other related diseases.