It is largely unknown how processing affects bioactive potential of chickpea proteins to prevent bowel inflammatory diseases. The aim was to investigate the anti-inflammatory activity of protein concentrates from germinated and cooked chickpeas (GC and CC, respectively) and its relationship with protein and isoflavone composition before and after in vitro gastrointestinal digestion and absorption. Anti-inflammatory activity of GC digests was almost 2-fold higher than CC digests (p < 0.05), which was associated to greater content of peptides, formononetin and biochanin A (p < 0.05). Anti-inflammatory activity of phenolic fraction in digests was 7-fold higher than the protein fraction (p < 0.05). The most active peptide fraction from GC digest (IC50 = 93 µg/mL) contained a total of 24 peptides derived from legumin and vicilin. In conclusion, this study stands out the potential of germinated chickpea proteins concentrates to exert anti-inflammatory effects in the lower gut which may contribute to the prevention of bowel inflammatory diseases.

Amaranth is a nutritional and naturally gluten-free pseudocereal with several food applications. The germination and pepsin/pancreatin hydrolysis in amaranth releases antioxidant and anti-inflammatory compounds but the hydrolysis times (270 or 360 min) are too long to scale up in the development of amaranth functional ingredients. The aim of this study was to estimate the influence of the germination and pepsin/pancreatin hydrolysis reduction time on the techno-functional properties and nutraceutical potential of amaranth flours and hydrolysates. The germination process increased 12.5% soluble protein (SP), 23.7% total phenolics (TPC), 259% water solubility, and 26% oil absorption in germinated amaranth flours (GAFs) compared to ungerminated amaranth flours (UAFs). The ungerminated (UAFH) and germinated (GAFH) amaranth hydrolysates showed values of degree of hydrolysis up to 50% with 150 min of sequential (pepsin + pancreatin) hydrolysis. The enzymatic hydrolysis released 1.5-fold SP and 14-fold TPC in both amaranth flours. The water solubility was higher in both hydrolysates than in their unhydrolyzed flour counterparts. The reduction in hydrolysis time did not significantly affect the nutraceutical potential of GAFH, enhancing its potential for further investigations. Finally, combining germination and enzymatic hydrolysis in amaranth enhances nutraceutical and techno-functional properties, increasing the seed. Consequently, GAF or GAFH could be used to elaborate on functional or gluten-free food products.

Corn tortillas are consumed daily in Mexico. Alkaline extrusion is an alternative process that generates nixtamalized tortillas and preserves more bioactive compounds. Chickpea germination-extrusion may enhance the bioactive compound content. The aim was to characterize the physicochemical and antioxidant/antidiabetic properties of functional tortillas of alkaline-extruded blue corn (TC) with germinated (TG) or germinated-extruded (TGE) desi-chickpea. Likewise, the effect of simulated gastrointestinal digestion (SGD) on the bioaccessibility of bioactive compounds (phenolics, soluble protein, peptides, anthocyanins, and isoflavones) was estimated. Antioxidant capacity/cellular activity was determined by ORAC (AoxC) and in the Caco-2 cell line (CAA), while antidiabetic potential by α-amylase inhibition. The supplementation with processed chickpeas (TG/TGE) increased protein, ash, and isoflavone content (p < 0.05) compared with TC. SGD (%) released (p < 0.05) bioactive compounds from tortillas, and their bioaccessibility was among 34–70%; noticeably low phenolic bioaccessibility in TG/TGE. The AoxC was higher in TG/TGE (p < 0.05) compared with TC; in contrast, CAA was higher in TC, and both increased after SGD. TG depicted the lowest amylase inhibition; after SGD, the IC₅₀ values were 62–72-fold lower in the digests than in the tortillas. These results suggest that functional tortillas with processed chickpeas enhance nutraceutical potential.