The Impact of Germination and Soaking on Reduction of Phytate and Tannin in Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.): Review

Abstract

Objectives: To review and compare the impact of germination and soaking on reduction of phytate and tannin in chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) Methods: A systematic search is conducted utilizing Pub Med, Scopus and Google Scholar databases. Germination, soaking, chickpea, phytic acid, phytate and anti-nutrients were identifiers used to search literatures published from 2000 to date. Only original articles that reported the effect of either soaking or germinating chickpea after soaking on phytate and tannin levels were considered. Articles that used chemicals other than water for soaking were excluded. A total of 10 articles that met the inclusion criteria were examined. Results: All studies but one reported significant reduction of phytate as a result of the germination process however the percent reduction is variable. It ranges form no significant reduction to 73% reduction. The highest reduction (73%) is reported in chickpea germinated for 96 hour. Tannin is also reduced by 16.9% to 93.3%, with the highest reduction reported following germination of chickpea for 48 hour.  It was noted that reduction varies based on the cultivars of chickpea. Minimal nutrient loss was reported in most of the studies. Conclusions: Based on majority of the reviewed articles, soaking and germination of chickpea resulted in significant reduction of anti-nutrients however the reduction is variable. The comparison of these food processing strategies is important in selecting appropriate strategy that could be applied at household level to reduce anti-nutrient and thus improve bioavailability of iron and zinc in staple diets.