Bamboo shoot is highly nutritious and contains a plethora of health-promoting bioactive compounds. It is a valuable source of food for Asiatic countries but it contains some antinutrients such as cyanogenic glycosides, glucosinolates, tannins, oxalates and phytates which deter its consumption due to safety issues. The most predominant antinutrient in bamboo shoot is cyanogenic glycosides. It causes increase in blood glucose and lactic acid levels and a decrease in the ATP/ADP ratio indicating the shift from aerobic to anaerobic metabolism. The anti-nutrients such as phytate can cause vitamins and minerals deficiencies. Though anti-nutrients may have deleterious effect when present in high concentration, they may also exert beneficial health effects at low concentrations. In order to eliminate or reduce the level of anti-nutrients to barest minimum, appropriate processing techniques such as soaking, boiling, drying and fermentation can be used. The cyanogen content in bamboo shoots range from 36.32 to more than 1000 mg/kg. Impact of different processing techniques revealed that, fermentation is the best method for reducing the antinutrient content and improving the quality of bamboo shoots as well as increasing the shelf life of the shoots.
Keywords: Antinutrients; Bamboo shoots; Cyanogenic glucosides; Processing.
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