Bioactive Compounds of Black Bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) Balkisu O. Abdulrahman, Muntari Bala, and Oluwasesan M. Bello Contents 1 Introduction ................................................................................... 3 2 Ethnobotany ................................................................................... 4 2.1 Various Names .......................................................................... 4 2.2 Description .............................................................................. 4 2.3 Nutritional Properties ................................................................... 6 2.4 Phytochemistry ......................................................................... 7 2.5 Ethnobotanical Uses .................................................................... 8 3 Pharmacological Properties ................................................................... 12 3.1 Anticancer Activity ..................................................................... 12 3.2 Antioxidant Activity .................................................................... 12 3.3 Anti-inflammatory Activity ............................................................. 13 3.4 Antidepressant Activity ................................................................. 13 3.5 Antihypertensive Activities ............................................................ 13 3.6 Antidiabetic Activities .................................................................. 14 B. O. Abdulrahman Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Faculty of Life Sciences, Federal University Dutsin-Ma, Dutsin-Ma, Katsina, Nigeria e-mail: babdulrahman@fudutsinma.edu.ng M. Bala Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Basic Medical Sciences, Bayero University, Kano, Nigeria e-mail: mbala.bch@buk.edu.ng O. M. Bello (*) National Center for Natural Products Research, School of Pharmacy, The University of Mississippi, University, MS, USA Department of Applied Chemistry, Faculty of Physical Sciences, Federal University, Dutsin-Ma, Katsina, Nigeria e-mail: obello@fudutsinma.edu.ng © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020 H. N. Murthy, K. Y. Paek (eds.), Bioactive Compounds in Underutilized Vegetables and Legumes, Reference Series in Phytochemistry, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-44578-2_38-1 1