Soaking, boiling and autoclaving were shown to cause losses in
phenolic contents and antioxidant activities in faba beans due to
leaching of active compounds into the soaking and cooking medium.
However, a substantial amount of the phenolic compounds
was retained in the cooked beans. Boiling was shown to be a better
method than autoclaving in retaining phenolic compounds. This
information suggested that home cooked faba beans may contain
a higher level of phenolic compounds than that of industrially processed
faba beans. The results also demonstrated the importance of
utilising soaking solutions and cooking broths in our diets to ensure
the maximum consumption of bioactive compounds. The fact
that antioxidant capacities did not vary greatly between the
bright- (or buff-) and darker-coloured beans as a result of processing
suggested that consumption of commercially cultivated genotypes
such as bright-coloured Nura could provide an equivalent
health benefit to consumption of the exotic coloured-genotypes.
Conversely, the white-coloured (low tannin) breeding line TF(Ic⁄-
As)⁄483/13 exhibited the lowest phenolic contents and antioxidant
capacities among all tested genotypes. Based on the present in vitro
study, our findings supported the concept that antioxidants such as
phenolic compounds could be acquired while consuming faba
beans, thereby encouraging a wider consumption of faba beans.