Plant-based foods gain more importance since they play a key role in sustainable, low-meat and healthy diets. In developing countries, these food products, especially legumes and cereals, are important staple foods. Nevertheless, the question arises on how efficient they are to deliver minerals and if it is useful to encourage their consumption to reduce the prevalence of mineral deficiencies? This review paper focuses on the discrepancy between the mineral content and the amount of minerals that can be released and absorbed from plant-based foods during human digestion which can be attributed to several inherent factors such as the presence of mineral antinutrients (phytic acid, polyphenols and dietary fiber) and physical barriers (surrounding macronutrients and cell wall). Further, this review paper summarizes the effects of different processing techniques (milling, soaking, dehulling, fermentation, germination and thermal processing) on mineral bioaccessibility and bioavailability of plant-based foods. The positive impact of these techniques mostly relies on the fact that antinutrients levels are reduced due to removal of fractions rich in antinutrients and/or due to their leaching into the processing liquid. Although processing can have a positive effect, it also can induce leaching out of minerals and a reduced mineral bioaccessibility and bioavailability.

Pectin is an anionic cell wall polysaccharide which is known to interact with divalent cations via its nonmethylesterified galacturonic acid units. Due to its cation‐binding capacity, extracted pectin is frequently used for several purposes, such as a gelling agent in food products or as a biosorbent to remove toxic metals from waste water. Pectin can, however, possess a large variability in molecular structure, which influences its cation‐binding capacity. Besides the pectin structure, several extrinsic factors, such as cation type or pH, have been shown to define the cation binding of pectin. This review paper focuses on the research progress in the field of pectin‐divalent cation interactions and associated functional properties. In addition, it addresses the main research gaps and challenges in order to clearly understand the influence of pectin structural properties on its divalent cation‐binding capacity and associated functionalities. This review reveals that many factors, including pectin molecular structure and extrinsic factors, influence pectin–cation interactions and its associated functionalities, which makes it difficult to predict the pectin–cation‐binding capacity. Despite the limited information available, determination of the cation‐binding capacity of pectins with distinct structural properties using equilibrium adsorption experiments or isothermal titration calorimetry is a promising tool to gain fundamental insights into pectin–cation interactions. These insights can then be used in targeted pectin structural modification, in order to optimize the cation‐binding capacity and to promote pectin–cation interactions, for instance for a structure build‐up in food products without compromising the mineral nutrition value.