The preventive effect of cooked and germinated legumes on some disturbances accompanied with aging

Legume consumption may play an important role on the health life during aging through its well-recognized antioxidant, antiproliferative, and antigenotoxic effects. The present study aimed to clarify the effect of some legumes feeding on oxidative stress in menopause rats. The experiment was carried out on 66 female rats (16-17 months old) divided into 11 groups. The first group was fed basal diet and kept as control group. The remaining groups were fed basal diet containing 20 % of different processed legumes either cooked or germinated (faba bean, chickpea, lentil, white bean and fenugreek). The experiment continued for 8 weeks .Growth of rats, biochemical analyses and histopathological examination were evaluated. Results showed that the body weight changed from the highest percentage of decrease (-7.7%) in the group fed on diet including germinated white bean and the highest percentage of increase (+7.1%) in the group fed cooked lentil supplemented diet. The study also demonstrated improvement in lipid profile, particularly in VLDL-C and triglycerides levels. The highest percentage decreases of atherogenic index relative to control group were 46.5, 44 and 40% in groups supplemented with germinated lentil, cooked faba bean and germinated faba bean, respectively. Germination process is more effective than cooking treatment by enhancing the antioxidant enzymes such as SOD and GPx, also by reducing liver enzymes like, alkaline phosphatase and aspartate transferase, particularly germinated lentil group and decreasing lipid peroxidation reflected on histopathological lesions in hepatocytes. Moreover, serum protein was higher in germinated legumes diets than cooked ones. In conclusion, the obtained results suggest that diets containing legumes, particularly the germinated form exert a beneficial effect in reducing some disturbances associated with aging.