Today (10 February) is World Pulses Day.

World Pulses Day is an opportunity to raise awareness of the nutritional benefits of pulses and their contribution to sustainable food systems and a world without hunger.

Pulses are critical in addressing the challenges of poverty, food security, human health and nutrition, soil health and the environment, thereby contributing to the Sustainable Development Goals and the Food and Agriculture Organization’s (FAO) Hand-in-Hand Initiative.

Prof Gyebi Duodu from the Department of Consumer and Food Sciences in UP’s Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences (NAS), explains that pulses are legume crops that are important sources of nutrients such as proteins in particular.

“Research is being conducted in the Department of Consumer and Food Sciences on these African pulses to highlight their nutritional and health-promoting properties and therefore boost their utilisation. This research aims to highlight the health-promoting properties of pulses that have focused on their potential to be used to tackle diet-related non-communicable diseases. These pulses are good sources of dietary fibre and some of the on-going research is looking into how they can be used in foods as prebiotics for gut health. Another important area of research concerns the role of bioactive phenolic compounds in these African pulses in exerting health-promoting properties by actions such as inhibition or prevention of oxidative stress and inflammatory disorders, and prevention of chronic diseases, such as cardiovascular and coronary heart diseases, diabetes, and cancer.”

“Cowpeas and Bambara groundnut are among some of the most significant African pulses. These pulses are believed to be indigenous to Africa and they are consumed in various forms and constitute an important part of the diet in many African communities. Despite their importance as food sources, these African pulses are relatively underutilised and under-researched compared to other well-known pulses such as the common bean.”

“Apart from being rich in proteins, African pulses are regarded as nutrient-dense and are important sources of micronutrients such as vitamins and minerals. African pulses are now being increasingly recognised as sources of non-nutritive phytochemical constituents such as bioactive phenolic compounds with health-promoting properties,” Prof Duodu concluded.

The research is funded by the DST-NRF Centre of Excellence in Food Security and the EU InnoFoodAfrica projects.