Phenolic profiles, antioxidant activities, and antiproliferative activities of different mung bean (Vigna radiata) varieties from Sri Lanka

Mung beans (Vigna radiata L.) are important dietary grain legumes. Phenolic compounds in soluble and bound fractions of 9 mung bean varieties from Sri Lanka were studied. Significant variations in total phenolic contents of the soluble and bound fractions of the varieties were obtained. Vitexin and isovitexin were the major phenolic compounds in the soluble and bound fractions of all the varieties. A total of 16 phenolic compounds were tentatively identified in the soluble fractions of the varieties, including 6 flavonoids that had not been previously reported in mung beans. Significant variations in antioxidant activities, antiproliferative effects, and intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation were obtained among the mung bean samples. Principal component analysis and heatmap analysis showed the potential similarities/differences among the 9 mung bean varieties. Overall, mung beans can be a valuable source of dietary antioxidant polyphenols, particularly vitexin and isovitexin.