Work

Phytic acid decrease along hydrothermal treatment of bambara groundnuts: a deep assessment of the mechanisms involved

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: The decrease of phytic acid , an anti-nutrient involved in the reduction of mineral bioavailability is particularly important when eating foods made from Fabacea seeds, especially in Africa where people suffer from mineral deficiencies. Soaking bambara groundnuts in water at 55 °C was found efficient to reduce phytic acid. As this reduction may be due to diffusion or hydrolysis through phytase activation at elevated temperature, a diffusion-reaction numerical model was undertaken to help the analysis of the involved mechanisms and study the impact of the seed structure. This model allowed to evaluate part of initial phytic acid content released by diffusion (24 %), or due to phytase hydrolysis (40 %) or remaining in bambara seeds (36 %) after 24h of soaking and evaluate its apparent diffusivity (0.7 × 10 −11 m 2 /s). Comparison with cowpea seeds sharing similar structure but smaller size and higher hardness led to a lower decrease of phytic acid whereas comparison with results from ground or dehulled bambara revealed that the latter was the most interesting. Indeed, the molar ratio between phytic acid and the iron and zinc minerals in soaked dehulled bambara decreased by a factor of three, a required condition to increase the mineral bioavailability.

Source: LWT

DOI: 10.1016/j.lwt.2025.118133

Authors: Fanny Coffigniez, Melina Robert, Valérie Lullien-Pellerin

Institutions: Institut Agro Montpellier, Ingénierie des Agropolymères et Technologies Emergentes, Institut National de Recherche pour l'Agriculture, l'Alimentation et l'Environnement

Language: English

Topic: Phytase and its Applications

Subfield: Plant Science

Field: Agricultural and Biological Sciences

Domain: Life Sciences

SDG: Zero hunger

Open Access status: gold

Estimated APC paid: $3,240