Prospects of future pulse milk variants from other healthier pulses - As an alternative to soy milk

The demand of alternatives to animal sourced milk from plant-source, including soy, rice, oat, hemp, coconut, almond and cashews are at all-time high, due to the medical reasons or lifestyle preferences. Medical reasons include lactose intolerance (LI), dairy milk protein allergy, cholesterol problems and life style choices including a vegan diet, ready-made healthy beverage etc. Among plant based milk sources, soy milk is the most consumed and oldest known source. However, soy milk itself has been associated to various limitations mainly pertaining to allergenicity of soy protein. And hence there has been a demand for alternatives for the plant sourced milk for making packaged plant milk or plant based milk and any beverages further. In the present review, an effort has been made to discuss various choices of pulses whom are envisaged as a potential alternative to soymilk in the preparation of plant based milk, like chickpea, lentils, lupin, pea, and faba bean based on nutritional profile of pulses. The review provides a common processing method which can be utilized for preparation of plant based milks. Moreover, it also highlights different processing treatments that are adapted to reduce oligosaccharides, and various strategies for reduction of antinutritional factors in those pulse alternatives. Likewise, for the set of pulses which are considered to be potential alternative for soy, some of important health benefits such as cardiovascular disease prevention, obesity reduction, anti-cancer benefits, diabetic health and colon health are also highlighted and reviewed in detail. Since there are only a few plant milk variants in the market, there is an opportunity for further exploitation of potential food sources. Lesser studied food sources especially pulses which include chickpea, lentils, lupin, pea, and faba bean present an attractive source for soymilk alternative. Further, pulses are rich in protein, carbohydrates, dietary fiber, potassium, magnesium, zinc, B vitamins and iron. A limitation in these food sources is presence of antinutritonal factors, however application of suitable processing technology could help in overcoming these limitations. •Other potential pulse milk alternatives to conventional soy milk has been discussed.•Nutritional richness of pea, lupin, lentil, chickpea and faba bean are highlighted.•Health benefits of pulses in comparison to soybean are discussed.•Different processing treatments for reduction of oligosaccharides are p