Sprouting of soybean: a natural process to produce unique quality food products and additives

Seed germination (sprouting) offers a broad spectrum of quality changes to the design of novel food components/additives/products with improved composition, enhanced nutritional value and/or with dedicated functional properties compared to ungerminated seed. This review summarises the general physiological and compositional changes that occur during the germination process in soybean seed. The changing pattern of macro- and micro components, different bioactive compounds and anti-nutritive factors are highlighted and their nutritional and functional characteristics summarised. Furthermore, the benefits of a strictly controlled short-term germination process (germination time