Insight into the digestive functionality of pulses as influenced by processing

Based on literature and own research, a large heterogeneity in processing and digestive behaviour of pulses has been described including differences between different varieties, between different seeds from a given batch, and even at cellular level. From a processing technology as well as food nutrition point of view, it is of primary interest to get more fundamental insight into the reasons for these heterogeneities at the level of processing and digestion. For this purpose, we will develop an innovative approach based on selecting several pulse varieties (fresh and aged) and sorting individual seeds and cells into more homogenous subfractions to study in detail the relation between the digestion properties and composition and structure as affected by the cooking process. This will be done by combining ex situ and in situ microscopic approaches complemented with extensive (bio)chemical characterizations of starch and protein digestion.