What will happen to your body if you eat a handful of beans every day? In some cases, you may get "poisoned"!

Please allow me to make a joke at the beginning. Friends from the “Four Provinces”, how are you eating beans?

The picture comes from the Internet

Recently, it is the season for various beans to be put on the market. They are cheap and delicious. Naturally, many people have various beans on their dining tables. Stir-fried beans, stewed beans with meat, cold beans, dry-fried beans...all can make a delicious dish.

What are the nutritional properties of beans? Is it good to eat beans every day?

Beans, can you really tell them apart?

Speaking of beans, I believe everyone is familiar with them. However, your beans and my beans seem to be different - some people say beans are wide and flat with plump beans, some say beans have green, white, purple and other colors, some say beans that are thin and long like ropes are the authentic ones, and some say beans are cylindrical with small beans...

If you go to the market, you will find that the names of beans are very confusing. Moreover, the same bean has different names in different places, and different beans may have the same name in different places, such as kidney beans, green beans, beans, long beans, and cowpeas. No wonder even Mr. Wang Zengqi, who is the most knowledgeable writer and the best writer among gourmets, could not distinguish the different beans.

The best way is to remember the botanical name of each bean. But which one is the real "bean"? At present, even botanists do not have a standard answer, because beans are a general term for leguminous vegetables with edible pods, rather than a specific type.

There are more than 130 species of beans in the world, with a wide variety of colors, sizes, and shapes. Common beans in our lives include kidney beans, cowpeas, lentils, green beans, etc. So it is not necessary to worry about the names of beans.

Generally speaking, beans are mostly fresh beans in the vegetable category. However, in nutrition, we will analyze beans as bean foods.

Of course, in addition to beans, legumes also include soybeans, mung beans, red beans, kidney beans, peas, broad beans, etc. Today, let's talk about what nutrients these legumes have and how to eat them healthily.

What nutrients does it contain?

In the eyes of nutritionists, legumes are a type of food with high nutritional value. They usually have the following advantages:

1. Rich in protein

Beans and soy products contain relatively high-quality plant protein. The protein in soybeans can even rival that in meat . This is why the "plant meat" that has been very popular in recent years all uses soy protein.

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2. Rich in dietary fiber

Beans are rich in dietary fiber, and the dietary fiber of starchy beans is more than twice that of rice, which makes people feel fuller . Replacing part or all of the staple food with beans during weight loss is a way to make it easier to stick to weight loss.

3. Rich in vitamins, minerals and other trace elements

Beans are very rich in B vitamins and are a good source of vitamin B. Soybean oil is rich in vitamin E and vitamin K. Beans produce vitamin C and vitamin K when they sprout. Beans are also rich in potassium, magnesium and phosphorus. The content of calcium, iron and zinc is also higher than that of cereals. The sodium content is very low, and they are a good source of minerals in the diet.

4. Rich in plant antioxidants

For example, soybeans contain beneficial substances such as soy isoflavones, soy lecithin, and soy oligosaccharides. Some studies believe that soy isoflavones can reduce the risk of breast cancer.

Because of the nutritional characteristics of beans, many studies currently believe that eating beans is good for health . For example, a large-scale nutritional epidemiological survey conducted on people aged 35 to 70 in 18 countries found that eating beans is beneficial to reducing the risk of death from cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, including myocardial infarction and stroke, and can also reduce the risk of death from non-cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases. Moreover, statistical analysis results show that eating beans is more effective in reducing the risk of death than eating vegetables!

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In general, beans contain relatively high-quality plant protein and are rich in a variety of antioxidants, vitamin E, vitamin K, plant antioxidants and dietary fiber, which are beneficial in reducing the risks of various chronic diseases such as overweight, obesity, hypertension, cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, and diabetes. Eating some beans every day is good for your health .

How to eat beans healthily?

1 Eat in moderation

The Chinese Dietary Guidelines recommend that we eat 25 to 35 grams of soybeans and nuts every day. You don’t need to eat too much, especially for people with poor gastrointestinal digestion. This is because many beans are high in dietary fiber and some antioxidants. People with poor digestion may feel stomach discomfort and bloating.

2 Eat as vegetables

All kinds of fresh beans and tender beans can be eaten as vegetables.

3 Eat as a staple food

Various starchy beans, also known as miscellaneous beans, can be eaten as a kind of coarse grain as a staple food. You can add a little when making rice or porridge. The so-called starchy beans include red beans, mung beans, chickpeas, dry peas, dry broad beans, kidney beans, lupine beans, lentils, etc., as well as various kidney beans.

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4. Eat various soy products in rotation

In addition to eating various beans directly, soy products such as soy milk, tofu, bean skin, natto, and bean paste are also very good bean foods and you can eat them in rotation at other times.

5 Cook until cooked through

Many beans, especially green beans, may contain saponins that are harmful to the human body, so they must be cooked thoroughly before eating.

References

[1] Wan Heping, Ran Jinghong, Tang Wenbin, et al. Comparative analysis of crude protein and crude fat content in seeds of 10 edible legumes[J]. Journal of Jianghan University (Natural Science Edition), 2022, 50(04): 22-30.

[2] Liu Bolin, Yu Xuerong, Zhao Ziwei, et al. Analysis and nutritional evaluation of nutrient content of seven kinds of beans[J]. Anhui Journal of Preventive Medicine, 2020, 26(04): 270-276.

[3] Liu Hong, Yi Lisha, Pu Yiqin, et al. Overview of research on wild leguminous plant resources and legume protein in China[J]. Biological Resources, 2019, 41(03): 185-194.

[4] Guo Rui, Wan Heping, Le Shuai, Chen Chanyou. Diversity analysis of dry seed morphology and main nutritional quality traits of 97 pea resources[J]. Journal of Jianghan University (Natural Science Edition), 2022, 50(6): 13-21.

[5] Dehghan M, Mente A, Zhang

[6]Afshin A, Micha R, Khatibzadeh S, Mozaffarian D. Consumption of nuts and legumes and risk of incident ischemic heart disease, stroke, and diabetes: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Am J Clin Nutr. 2014 Jul;100(1):278-88.

[7] Alizadeh M, Gharaaghaji R, Gargari BP. The effects of legumes on metabolic features, insulin resistance and hepatic function tests in women with central obesity: a randomized controlled trial. Int J Prev Med.2014 Jun;5(6):710-20.PMID:25013690;PMCID:PMC4085923.

[8] Papanikolaou Y, Fulgoni VL 3rd. Bean consumption is associated with greater nutrient intake, reduced systolic blood pressure, lower body weight, and a smaller waist circumference in adults: results from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 1999-2002. J Am Coll Nutr. 2008 Oct;27(5):569-76.

[9] Mudryj AN, Yu N, Aukema HM. Nutritional and health benefits of pulses. Appl Physiol Nutr Metab. 2014 Nov;39(11):1197-204.

[10]Hughes J, Pearson E, Grafenauer S. Legumes-A Comprehensive Exploration of Global Food-Based Dietary Guidelines and Consumption. Nutrients. 2022 Jul 27;14(15):3080.

[11]Thompson HJ. Dietary Bean Consumption and Human Health. Nutrients.2019 Dec 17;11(12):3074.

[12] Becerra-Tomás N, Papandreou C, Salas-Salvadó J. Legume Consumption and Cardiometabolic Health. Adv Nutr. 2019 Nov1;10(Suppl_4):S437-S450.

[13] Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations - Health benefits of pulses

[14]Dietary Guidelines for Chinese Residents 2022.

Author: Ruan Guangfeng, Deputy Director of Kexin Food and Health Information Exchange Center