## 3 Nutritional, Anti-Nutritional and Health Beneficial Constituents of Lima Beans
This is not unexpected, as low levels of methionine are a common trend in legumes [48]. The few available studies conducted on the AA composition of lima beans (summarized in Table 2) suggest that more research efforts should be geared toward this. As shown in Table 1, lima beans are low in fat but contain substantial amounts of linoleic acids [72]. They are also free from cholesterol, which is crucial in terms of dietary recommendations. Lima beans have moderately high carbohydrate levels (50.44-77.39%, Table 1), and so the bean could be used to produce starch and its byproducts. As documented in previous studies [27; 45; 53], starch is the major carbohydrate component of lima beans, constituting between 37 and 41.96%. As observed on scanning electron microscopy, the starch granules are reported to have oval, heterogeneous and spherical shapes (Figure 3A,B) [73; 74], with small pores near the granule's equatorial region (Figure 3A). However, a study by [PERSON] et al. [74] indicated that lima bean starch showed no evidence of pores or fissures in the different varieties investigated (Figure 3B). Lima beans are a source of dietary fiber, as the grain consists of insoluble and soluble dietary fractions. Like other legumes, the seeds are rich in vitamins including niacin, riboflavin and thiamin [75]. The varying levels of minerals in the lima bean (Table 3) show high levels of calcium, iron, zinc, phosphorus and potassium. These are minerals known to assist with muscle movement, keeping the nervous system healthy, and building strong bones and teeth. High levels of potassium and phosphorus in lima beans, with levels up to  
Figure 3: (**A**): Scanning electron microscope of lima bean starch at 200\(\times\) magnification [73]. (**B**): Scanning electron microscope of lima bean starches at 1500\(\times\) magnification (**a**) red native starch (**b**) white native starch (**c**) brown native starch [74]. 1181.7 and 4080 mg/100 g, respectively, suggest that the lima bean is a food source that can provide the body with these essential food components. Generally, legumes are consumed with their hulls, which conserves the micronutrient content, unlike most cereals which are polished before being consumed [79]. However, high levels of minerals do not necessarily mean a corresponding high bioavailability [80]. Regrettably, despite a high nutritional content, the lima bean also contains antinutrients such as lectins (particularly phytohaemagglutininins), tannins, trypsin inhibitors, thioglucosides, oxalate and cyanide-producing glucosides, which inhibit the absorption and utilization of essential minerals and decrease the nutritive component of foods, protein digestibility and can cause deleterious effects. Also known as anti-nutritional factors (ANFs), antinutrients are found in all legumes and act as metabolic functions, while the consequences in the body can be negative, positive, or both [78; 81]. According to [PERSON] and [PERSON] [82], protease inhibitors reduce the digestion of protein, phytates reduce the absorption of iron and calcium, phytohaemagglutininins prevent the absorption and digestion of end products in the small intestine, oxalates encourage the formation of kidney stones and reduce the absorption of calcium, while cyanide inhibits respiration. Maturity stage, cultivars, agroecology, and environmental conditions are some of the parameters that affect ANF content. Anti-nutritional factors, such as phytohaemagglutinin, trypsin inhibitor, tannins, oxalate and phytic acids have been reported to be present in lima beans (Table 4) [46; 54; 83]. Levels of phytic acids, tannins, trypsin inhibitor, oxalate and hydrogen cyanide reported in lima beans range from 0.02 to 47.2 mg/g, 0.01 to 78.9 mg/g, 3.4 to 184.1 Tiu/mL, 0.01 to 5.42 mg/g and 0.01 to 5.68 mg/g (Table 4) [46; 52; 54; 83; 84]. Consuming raw or inadequately processed lima beans, as with any other legume, is believed to cause countless detrimental effects.