Bioscience Evidence 2026, Vol.16, No.4, 202-220 http://bioscipublisher.com/index.php/be 213 vitro antioxidant activity all increase. The variety of polyphenolic compounds also becomes richer, and the extracts show stronger protective effects in human cell lines. In general, germination for 3-5 days results in the highest levels of bioactive compounds and antioxidant activity. Phenolics and flavonoids contribute most of the free radical scavenging capacity (Xue et al., 2016). Germination can also reduce the content of antinutritional factors, improve the bioavailability of proteins and minerals, and increase the accumulation of health-related metabolites, thereby enhancing the value of mung bean as a functional food. After 24~48 h of germination, the protein content increases, the total phenolic content rises significantly, and the phytic acid content decreases, resulting in improved nutritional quality (Kabré et al., 2025). 8.2 Fermentation Fermentation can further increase the levels of bioactive compounds in mung bean, especially phenolic compounds and γ-aminobutyric acid (γ-aminobutyric acid, GABA). Fermented mung bean is an excellent source of GABA, with its content increasing by about 7.6 times compared with untreated seeds (Hou et al., 2019). Solid-state fermentation with Aspergillus niger can significantly increase total phenolics, flavonoids, and antioxidant activity. Metabolomic analysis has shown that dozens of phenolic metabolites are upregulated during fermentation, and their changes are closely related to antioxidant activity (Lang et al., 2025). Both germination and solid-state bioconversion can increase the phenolic content and improve the functional properties of mung bean, leading to stronger antioxidant, antidiabetic, and anti-ulcer activities. Therefore, fermentation is considered an effective way to modify the phenolic profile of mung bean. It not only improves antioxidant capacity but also produces new bioactive metabolites and GABA, which may contribute to neuroprotection and metabolic regulation. 8.3 Thermal processing and cooking Traditional cooking and heat treatment have important effects on the nutritional quality and color of mung bean. A study on mung bean varieties from Burkina Faso found that boiling, roasting, and cooking increased protein content and water absorption capacity, reduced phytic acid levels, and in some cases increased the total polyphenol content. Although the contents of iron and zinc decreased, their bioavailability was higher than that in raw seeds (Kabré et al., 2025). A comparative study of blanching, germination, and ultrasound treatment showed that short-time blanching was the most effective method for reducing phytic acid, while germination produced the greatest increases in total phenolics, flavonoids, and antioxidant activity. These results indicate that there is a balance between removing antinutritional factors and enriching bioactive compounds (Idris et al., 2026). Heat treatment also causes changes in pigments and phenolic compounds that affect the appearance and functional properties of mung bean. Prolonged heating of whole seeds leads to chlorophyll degradation in the seed coat and the formation of pheophytin, which increases yellowness and darkens the cooking water. Interestingly, the total flavonoid content in the seed coat increases significantly as the heating time becomes longer. This may be related to condensation reactions between flavonoids and other polyphenols, resulting in the formation of brown polymeric compounds (Huang et al., 2022). 8.4 Emerging processing technologies and functional enhancement In recent years, various emerging physical processing technologies have been widely used to regulate bioactive compounds in mung bean. Among them, high-intensity ultrasound, either alone or combined with heat treatment as thermosonication, can modify protein structure and improve its biological activity. Thermosonication pretreatment of mung bean protein increases the proportion of low-molecular-weight peptides in the hydrolysates and significantly enhances the inhibition of cholesterol micelle solubility as well as antioxidant activity. These results suggest its potential as a cholesterol-lowering functional ingredient (Ashraf et al., 2020). Ultrasound treatment of mung bean protein hydrolysates also changes the secondary structure, reduces particle size and surface hydrophobicity, and significantly improves free radical scavenging activity and metal ion chelating ability (Liu et al., 2022).
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