Nutrient Composition of the Underutilized Hyacinth Bean Seeds

An abstract of a study by Theuri et al determining the nutrient composition of hyacinth beans is presented. Hyacinth bean was characterized by higher contents in the amino acid glutamate (70.28 µg/100g), glycine (57.7 µg/100g), Aspartate (52.46 µg/100g) and Leucine (51.9lµg/100g). Fatty acid results were compared to existing nutrient data for olive, corn, and sunflower oils. Saturated fatty acids (28.05 mg/100g) were higher in the hyacinth bean than olive oil, corn oil or sunflower oil. Monounsaturated fatty acids were higher (61.2mg/100g) in the hyacinth bean than in corn and sunflower but not higher than olive oil. Polyunsaturated fatty acid level (10.80mg/ 100g was equal to olive oil, but not higher than corn or sunflower oils. Results in the minerals tests showed that potassium (9,507 mg/kg), magnesium (1,565 mg/kg), phosphate (3414 mg/kg), and calcium (585 mg/kg) were substantially high in the hyacinth bean. Total phenolics and flavanoids were (253.67 mg/100g) and (10.41 mg/100g) in water and methanol extracts respectively.