Food Science and Agriculture: Research Highlights Vol. 8

Legumes are central to affordable plant-based diets and low-input cropping systems, yet their nutritional contribution is constrained by limited digestibility, antinutritional compounds, long cooking times and uneven consumer acceptance. Germination has therefore attracted renewed interest as a comparatively simple bioprocess that activates endogenous enzymes, remodels seed reserves and permits the production of fresh sprouts or shelf-stable sprouted ingredients. This critical narrative review evaluates whether sprouted legumes can make a defensible contribution to sustainable nutrition and food security. Literature was selected through transparent searches of accessible scholarly sources, with emphasis on peer-reviewed studies of nutritional composition, digestibility, mineral bioaccessibility, bioactive compounds, food safety, product development and sustainability-relevant implementation.

The strongest evidence indicates that sprouting commonly lowers raffinose-family oligosaccharides and can reduce phytate, protease inhibitors and selected tannins, while increasing free amino acids, certain vitamins and extractable phenolics. These effects are not universal. Their magnitude and direction depend on species, cultivar, seed history, germination time, temperature, light, water management and downstream cooking or drying. In vitro protein digestibility often improves, but changes in mineral bioaccessibility and antioxidant activity are inconsistent, and human trials that connect compositional changes to clinically meaningful outcomes remain scarce. Nutritional optimisation also creates a food-safety tension: the warm, humid conditions that support germination can amplify seed-borne pathogens, while fresh sprouts are perishable and are often consumed with little or no heat treatment. Product studies show promise for sprouted flours in breads and other foods, but excessive inclusion or uncontrolled enzyme activity can impair dough handling, texture, flavour and shelf life.

Sprouted legumes can support food availability, dietary utilisation and value-chain diversification when germination is matched to local infrastructure and safety capacity. Their sustainability cannot be inferred from the agronomic advantages of legumes alone; water use, sanitation, drying energy, refrigeration, losses and packaging must be evaluated. The most credible pathway is therefore not universal promotion of raw sprouts, but context-specific deployment of standardised short germination, validated microbial controls and culturally acceptable cooked or shelf-stable products.