Quantification and bioassay development for toxicity testing of faba bean varieties

Faba bean production on the Canadian Prairies is quickly gaining the interest of the farming community because of the high protein and high yielding qualities of this crop. There is one problem associated with this otherwise very attractive pulse crop, faba beans contain variable concentrations of two compounds, vicine and convicine (V C), that cause a very serious health problem in a low percentage of people who have a genetic deficiency of the enzyme, G6PD in the red blood cells (RBCs). When these individuals consume faba beans, the V-C in the beans destroys their RBCs causing acute hemolytic anemia. This condition is known as favism.

To address this seriously limiting feature of faba beans, we have developed and validated an efficient, reliable, and cost-effective bioassay to determine the potential toxic effects of V-C in the faba beans, their protein extracts, and food products. The study employed bis chloroethylnitrosourea (BCNU)-treated RBCs to determine and predict the low, medium, and high VC faba beans, the relative toxicity of food products made from faba beans such as muffins, pancakes, and energy bars, and the relative effectiveness of different V-C elimination processing methods.