Higher Intake Of Beans Linked To More Nutritious Diet

Eating more chickpeas and beans on a daily basis could help in not only adding more fiber to your diet but also is also linked to consuming more essential nutrients like magnesium, iron, folate, and potassium, according to a recent study published in Maturitas.

“Avoiding beans within dietary patterns may lead to nutrient and public health consequences in adults. Upcoming dietary guidance should consider the health benefits associated with the promotion of increased bean consumption in dietary patterns and develop strategies to encourage increased consumption in American adults,” the authors wrote.

“When considering baked beans, a very popular form of bean consumption in American dietary patterns, adult consumers had higher intakes of several shortfall nutrients, including dietary fiber, potassium, magnesium, and iron compared to bean non-consumers. Further, adult baked bean consumers had significantly lower systolic blood pressure versus non-consumers, concurrent to greater sodium intake,” they added. “Adults consuming a variety of beans showed lowered body weights, reduced waist circumferences and a 29% lower risk of having an elevated waist circumference and a 22% reduced risk of having obesity compared to non-consumers.”

Lead author Yanni Papanikolaou and colleagues analyzed data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey’s What We Eat in America program to study how often U.S.-based adults consume beans. In their analyses, they focused on how often Americans consumed white and red kidney beans, black beans, chickpeas, and pinto beans. The researchers observed that adults who routinely consumed these beans had improved ratios of polyunsaturated fatty acids, monounsaturated fatty acids, and saturated fatty acids compared to those who did not consume beans. Those who ate beans also consumed 30% more fruits and 20% more vegetables.

“Beans and other protein-rich legumes are considered one of the lowest climate impacting foods via reduced greenhouse gas emissions, removal of carbon from the atmosphere during production, and improved soil fertility through nitrogen fixation. Additionally, the inclusion of beans within American dietary patterns has routinely been recommended by current and previous Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGA),” the authors explained.

“Nonetheless, less than 20% of the population are at or above recommendations for bean, peas, and lentil consumption. Beans, peas, and legumes are consumed in relatively small amounts, at an average of 0.1 cup eq/day. Canned beans account for approximately 75% of units sold at US retail, outselling other forms by roughly 4:1,” they added.

Previous studies have also linked several health benefits to the daily consumption of beans. A 2011 Women’s Health Initiative study found that women who ate additional servings of beans had a 23% reduced cardiovascular disease risk and a 30% lowered risk of heart failure compared to those who mainly consumed meat-based diets and ultra-processed foods.

Similarly, another study established that the Mediterranean Diet, which includes consuming high levels of legumes among other food items, is associated with significant reductions in coronary heart disease and cancer mortality rates in around 22,000 Greek men and women.

“In the present analysis, while sodium levels were higher in three bean dietary patterns of consumption, relative to the no-bean group, potassium intake levels were significantly higher in all bean patterns of consumption examined. An important, and often missed principle, involves potassium intakes when assessing sodium intakes in the American population,” the authors explained.