ABSTRACT
The present work aimed to verify the digestibility of cooked whole food grain legumes. Samples of beans (Phaseolus vulgaris and Vigna sinensis), chickpeas (Cicer arietinum) and lentils (Lens culinaris) were used in the experiment. The interrelationship between the insoluble dietary fiber presented in the food grain legumes and the low protein digestibility was studied. The insoluble dietary fiber and the proteic nitrogen presented in the neutral detergent fiber (NDF) were determined. In vivo digestibility was performed in rats fed with diets containing cooked grain legumes, casein and protein free diet. The experiments were performed on rats over a period of 21 days. High excretion of nitrogen was observed by rats fed with cooked food grain legumes compared to casein diet. In vitro digestibility was performed by enzymatic hydrolysis with pepsin and trypsin. No significant differences was found between in vivo and in vitro digestibility. The heat treatment caused increased in the values of insoluble dietary fiber by the complexation of its components with protein and aminoacids. The results obtained showed the increased of the insoluble dietary fiber, in the cooked samples compared with raw samples. Significant values of protein nitrogen were found in the NDF, suggested that it was originated by complexation with proteins and aminoacids. This fact contributed to become proteic nitrogen nonavailability decreasing consequently the digestibility of the proteins