Changes in contents of free sugars, amino acids, and fatty acids of legumes were analyzed for each phase of in vitro digestion. In addition, contents of resistant starch in raw and digested pulses were compared. Soybeans, kidney beans, cowpeas, and chickpeas were analyzed. An in vitro digestion model was used to analyze contents of nutrients using LC-MS and GC-MS. Stachyose in kidneybean, cowpea, and chickpea increased as the digestion phase progressed. In four types of legumes, raffinose slightly decreased or showed no significant difference between the Oral phase and the BBMV phase. Content of glucose, a monosaccharide, increased during the BBMV phase. During the digestion phase, levels of free amino acids and free fatty acids also increased. Content of resistant starch was reduced compared to that in the raw material. It was 0.01g/100 g food in soybean, 1.06 g/100 g food in red kidney bean, 0.77g/ 100g food in cowpea, and 0.76 g/100 g food in chickpea. It was confirmed that nutrients in the in vitro digestion model were liberated at each digestion phase with changes in the content of resistant starch. These results are expected to be used as fundamental data for obtaining bioavailability of nutrients.

The Cheonggukjang used in this study was made with four soybean cultivars grown and harvested at the National Agrobiodiversity Center of the National Academy of Agricultural Sciences: C1 (KLS87248), C2 (Nongrim 51), C3 (GNU- 2007-14613), and C4 (Daewon). The soybeans were inoculated with Bacillus subtilis AFY-2 and fermented for 0, 12, 21, 36, 45, and 60 h in a culture room at 35°C. ABTS and DPPH radical scavenging activities were significantly increased upon fermentation for 12 hours in all samples and maintained or decreased after 21 hour The inhibition of NO production was significantly increased compared to the LPS-treated group, and the C2 sample showed inhibition of NO production at 12 hours of fermentation, and the C3 sample showed inhibition at 21 hours of fermentation. PCA analysis revealed that the ABTS and DPPH radical scavenging activity and NO production inhibitory activity reached peak levels around 12 h fermentation time for all samples. Our results indicate that the optimal fermentation time of the Cheonggukjang sample is 12 hours, confirming the high correlation of all experiments.

This study investigated the potential role of dietary factors associated with obesity and metabolic syndrome (MetS) in Koreans. The scoping review method was used to evaluate the studies that utilized the secondary data sets comprising the Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES) and the Korean Genome and Epidemiology Study (KoGES). Articles published between 2012 and 2022 were identified using RISS, KISS, DBpia, PubMed, and ScienceDirect databases. In all, there were 32 published articles on obesity and 119 on MetS. Obesity research included eight articles on nutrients, 12 on food items/food groups, two on dietary patterns, nine on dietary behavior/eating habits, and one on the dietary index. MetS studies comprised 34 articles on nutrients, 43 on food items/food groups, seven on dietary patterns, 25 on dietary behavior/eating habits, and 10 on the dietary index. Carbohydrates, alcohol, and coffee consumption were the most frequently studied dietary factors for obesity and MetS. The primary areas of study were largely focused on nutrients and food items/food groups. Thus, to overcome the paucity of information on the relationship of dietary patterns and dietary indexes with obesity and MetS, there is a need for further research using the KNHANES and KoGES data sets.

In this study, soybean pods of 45 soybean landraces (or varieties) were classified as yellow (19 samples), black (23 samples), or black in green (3 samples) based on soybean seed coat color. Total polyphenol and flavonoid contents were measured, and antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anti-obesity, and estrogen-like activities were assessed. Total polyphenol and flavonoid content ranges were 24.13-108.03 mg GAE/g and 3.31-72.02 mg CE/g, respectively, and were highest in the black group followed by the yellow group and were least in the black in green group, while ABTS and DPPH activities followed the order black in green > black > yellow. Estrogen-like and estrogen receptor-α activity ranges were 29.06-35.58 pg/mL and 7.05-10.13 pg/mL and were followed the order yellow > black > black in green and black in green > yellow > black, respectively. Nitric oxide (NO) inhibitory and UCP-1 activities followed the same order as estrogen receptor-α activities. Our findings suggest that soybean pods are excellent sources of antioxidants and high-quality functional materials.