Lipidomic characteristics of eight major legumes and alterations of lipid profiles in legumes in response to soaking and cooking

Legumes are important sources of dietary lipids, and lipidomic analysis of legumes using UPLC-QTOF-MS is crucial for human health. This study characterized and compared the lipid profiles of black soybean, mung beans, chickpeas, peas, fava beans, cowpeas, adzuki beans, and kidney beans, and investigated the effects of soaking and cooking. Sixteen subclasses comprising 520 lipids were identified, with 170 differential lipids among the eight legume types. Soaking for 12 h decreased the fatty acids (FAs) and lysophospholipids (LPLs), and increased the triacylglycerols, ceramides, phosphatidylethanolamines, diacylglycerols (DGs), monogalactosyldiacylglycerols (MGDGs), phosphatidic acids (PAs), phosphatidylinositols (PIs), and phosphatidylserines (PSs). Cooking for 20–55 min reduced the LPLs, FAs, phosphatidylglycerols, and sphingomyelin 42:8;O2, but increased the MGDG 36:4, MGDG 36:3, MGDG 36:2, digalactosyldiacylglycerol (DGDG) 36:4, DGDG 36:5, PA, PI, and PS levels. These findings offer valuable insights for legume selection and authenticity assessment and elucidate the effects of soaking and cooking on legume seed lipids.