Preliminary assessment of the nutritional composition of underexploited wild legumes from semi-arid Caatinga and moist forest environments of northeastern Brazil

The seeds of 14 wild legume species from Brazil were analyzed to assess their potential as food. The seeds showed high levels of crude protein (10.9–50.0%), dietary fiber (0.8–52.3%) and energy (905–1804 kJ 100 g−1), and the amino acid composition (mg g−1 N) was comparable to that of soybeans, but with higher amounts of lysine (456–10,884) and histidine (199–918). The seeds showed lectin activity (20–2560 and 60–2560 HU g−1 flour for untreated or treated erythrocytes, respectively) as well as trypsin inhibitory activity (4.06–27.35 μg TI mg−1 flour), urease (225–23,895 U kg−1 flour) and toxic activities (LD50 0.22–0.12 g kg−1 body weight). Most of the minerals, as with edible legume seeds, were present in high levels when considering reference daily intake (RDI) and the nutrient content claims of the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Thus, these wild legume seeds can be promising alternatives sources of food to overcome malnutrition problems.