Introducing and establishing new food requires a detailed evaluation of its safety, nutritional value and functionality, thus
the control and probiotic-rich adzuki and mung bean sprouts were studied in an in vivo rats model. However, the total
feed intake did not differ significantly between the groups, the highest body weight gain and body weight change were
recorded in the control AIN diet. At the same time, the addition of legume sprouts caused a reduction of these parameters
(up to 25% in the variant with probiotic-rich adzuki bean sprouts). There was no significant effect on serum morphol-
ogy, except white blood cells (ca. 20% reduction in the control sprout-supplemented diets). Serum and liver antiradical
properties were significantly elevated by consuming mung bean sprouts (no effect of the probiotics). The faecal lactic acid
bacteria were already increased by the control sprouts (a 2.8- and 2.1-fold increase for adzuki and mung bean sprouts,
respectively). The probiotic-rich sprouts further improved this parameter. The diets enriched with mung bean sprouts sig-
nificantly decreased the urease (by ca. 65%) and β-glucuronidase activities (by ca. 30%). All the tested diets caused also
a significant reduction of faecal tryptophanase activity (the effect was intensified by Lactiplantibacillus plantarum 299v).
The functional components did not affect negatively the nutritional parameters and blood morphological characteristics.
They improved also the antioxidant potential and significantly decreased the activities of colon cancer-related enzymes
(urease and tryptophanase). The results confirmed that these new probiotic carriers may be a valuable, safe and functional
element of a healthy diet.