**Abstract**

Legume seeds have an important role as nutraceuticals in human health (providing protein, carbohydrates, fiber, amino acids, and micronutrients) and act as sustainable food sources in livestock farming and aquaculture. Legume seeds contain a wide range of bioactive compounds that have significant health benefits, mainly classified under phenolic compounds, phytosterols, oligosaccharides, carbohydrates, and saponins. Some of these compounds play an important role in plant defense mechanisms against predators and environmental conditions. Heat-labile antinutritional factors (protease inhibitors and lectins) and heat-stable antinutritional factors (tannins and phytic acid) can be reduced by thermal treatment or postharvest to eliminate any potential negative effects from consumption. Substantial studies have demonstrated that these bioactive compounds possess multiple biological activities, including antioxidant properties, antibacterial, anticancer, anti-inflammatory, antidiabetic, cardiovascular protective. They also have various values for aquaculture, such as fishmeal alternative. In this review, the main bioactive compounds and important biological functions of legume seeds are summarized, and the mechanism of action is discussed.

**Keywords:** phytochemicals, bioactivities, antioxidant, antibacterial, anticancer, legume seeds

## **1. Introduction**

Legumes, including pulses (dried seed legumes), belong to the Leguminosae family (also called Fabaceae), as shown in the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) of the United Nations. Leguminosae is an extensive family of plants with over 18,000 species of various types, and only a limited number are used as human resources or as animal feed. Seeds such as dry beans, broad beans, dry peas, chickpeas, cowpeas, lentils, and mung beans are listed by FAO as being consumed for their high nutrition source of proteins, minerals, vitamins, and bioactive compounds. In general, legumes are known for their high levels of bioactive compounds, such as phenolic compounds, phytosterols, bioactive carbohydrates, and saponins, which aid in the reduction in the risk of oxidant properties, bacteria, cancer, inflammation, and diabetes. Legumes have recently gained popularity as excellent sources of high nutrition and can be vital sources of ingredients for use in functional foods and other applications. Legumes are also a rich source of amino acids such as lysine and tryptophan but are low in sulfur-containing amino acids

and may be a cost-effective ally in the fight against malnutrition. They are now regarded as a future superfood, capable of achieving zero hunger at a time when one in every five children under the age of five is chronically malnourished [1]. As a result, people consume legume seeds as a major source of protein worldwide. Legumes are more affordable, especially to low-income families, where consumption of animal protein may be restricted due to economic, social, cultural, or religious factors. In addition, the consumption of legumes has also been demonstrated to be connected with outstanding beneficial health, including hypocholesterolemic, antiatherogenic, anticarcinogenic, cardiovascular protection, and hypoglycemic properties [2].

The nutritional demand for legumes is increasing globally as consumers have become more aware of their nutritional and health benefits. Furthermore, in recent years, more people have substituted vegetable protein for animal protein, increasing demand for legumes, which are the primary source of plant proteins. Therefore, developing good extraction and isolation techniques to obtain a high content of bioactive compounds is critical for legumes to become a competitive source of phytonutrients.

The aim of this review is to concentrate on the phytochemicals and bioactivities of legume seeds on mechanisms of action. Furthermore, the quantities and compositions of these phytochemicals in a variety of legumes are shown. The information demonstrated in this study is helpful for the ingredient selection of legumes for the application of functional foods [1].
