January 7/Salamanca, Spain/Food Business Week -- "The phenolic composition of lentil flour samples, processed with and without the addition of tannase during different times of incubation, 30, 60, 90, 120, 150 and 180 minutes, were analyzed by high-performance liquid chromatography-photodiode array detector-mass spectrometry (HPLC-PAD-MS). Quantitative and qualitative differences in the identified phenolic compounds were observed between the two studied processes, and with respect to the raw lentils," scientists in Salamanca, Spain, report.

"Processed lentils with and without tannase, contain gallic acid, gallic aldehyde and trans-resveratrol, compounds not detected in raw lentils. Quercetin 3-O-rutinoside and luteolin undergo an increase as a consequence of the processes. Analysis of principal components to examine the relationship between time of processing and concentration of phenolics in every lentil sample showed that incubation time is not the only factor that influences the modification of phenolic compounds, but also the activation of the endogenous enzyme together with the addition of commercial tannase, that can bring out synergic and/or antagonist effects depending on the structure of phenolic compound," wrote M. Duenas and colleagues, University of Salamanca.