Comparative Studies on the Effects of Certain Treatments on the Antitryptic Activity of the Common Indian Pulses

Abstract

After the discovery of the antitryptic activity in the extracts of soybean, a large number of trypsin inhibitors have been isolated from the plant sources, especially from the leguminous seeds. Though these trypsin inhibitors have been found to be distributed in the different parts of the plant like seeds, leaves, cotyledons, roots and stems; depending upon the plant species, they are mostly present in the seeds. As the legumes form an important part of the diet in the underdeveloped and the developing countries like India, a number of attempts have been made to improve their nutritional value by using heat treatments to destroy the trypsin inhibitor.