Dried seeds of four varieties of Phaseolus vulgaris, three of Vigna unguiculata ssp. unguiculata and two of Vigna angularis grown and marketed in Italy, Mexico, India, Japan, Ghana and Ivory Coast were analysed for fatty acids content. In oils from seeds of P. vulgaris, the main fatty acids were linolenic (34.7-41.5%) and linoleic (30.7-40.3%), followed by palmitic (10.7-16.8%). The first three aforementioned fatty acids in the lipid fraction of V. unguiculata varieties were 28.4, 28.7 and 26.2%, respectively; while in V. angularis varieties, main fatty acids were linoleic (36.4-39.1%) and palmitic (26.9-33.3%), followed by linolenic (17.9-22.2%). Statistical analyses indicate that botanical species play a rule in bean fatty acids distribution, while the same was not verified for geographical origin. Furthermore, the atherogenic index (AI) and the thrombogenic index (TI) were investigated for health and nutritional information. The results showed that these wide spread legumes have functional features to human health.
Keywords: Phaseolus vulgaris; Vigna angularis; Vigna unguiculata ssp. unguiculata; fatty acids; health lipid indices; multivariate statistics.