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Siem Doo Siah

PhD Student
School School of Biomedical Sciences
Location Charles Sturt University, Wagga Wagga
Phone 02 6933 4371
Mobile 0411 708 342
Email ssiah@csu.edu.au

Project

Health Benefits of minor constituents of Faba Beans

Summary

Faba bean, Vicia faba , is one of the major pulses grown in Australia. It is an excellent low cost protein source for human food and animal feed. The production of faba beans in Australia has increased steadily since 1990s with 95% of the crop exported to Egypt and the Middle East for human consumption. Minor constituents including protease inhibitors (PI) and phenolic compounds found in legumes are becoming increasingly important for their potential health benefits. Phenolic compounds are antioxidants that are identified with an ability to defend reactive oxygen species, hence contribute to prevention of cancer, cardiovascular and neurodegenerative diseases. On the other hand, PI has also been reported for its ability to block pathways which cause cancer and other diseases. Phenolic compounds and PI that are from different sources have diverse structures, molecular weights and chemical compositions, therefore may exhibit different behaviours towards specific pathways which cause diseases. To date, there is little known about these minor constituents in Australian grown faba beans. Thus, this project has the following objectives:-

To measure the antioxidant properties of phenolic compounds in Australian grown faba beans.
To measure the anticancer and antihypertension properties of PI in faba beans.
To explore the possible synergistic effects of PI and phenolics in reducing the incidence of disease.
To identify, if possible, the specific structure of phenolic compounds and PI from faba bean.

Supervisors

Dr Chris Blanchard

Funding source