In the current study, the structural and antioxidant activities of polysaccharides were characterized from soybean sprouts grown in the presence or absence of light. The crude polysaccharides, PL (polysaccha-rides from light-grown sprouts) and PD (polysaccharides from dark-grown sprouts), were extracted by hot water method, and were further purified by chromatography of DEAE-52.