Disease Proof

Beans are pretty amazing. Sure they taste great and are loaded with lots fiber and protein, but did you know they do a nice job of stifling hunger as well? Don’t take my word for it. Dr. Fuhrman talks about it in Eat to Live:

Legumes are among the world's most perfect foods. They stabilize blood sugar, blunt your desire for sweets, and prevent mid-afternoon cravings. Even a small portion can help you feel full. I encourage you to eat at least one full cup daily. They can be flavored and spiced in interesting ways, and you can eat an unlimited quantity of them. Eat some beans with every lunch. Among your choices are chickpeas, black-eyed peas, black beans, cowpeas, green peas, lima beans, pinto beans, lentils, red kidney beans, soybeans, cannelloni beans, pigeon peas, and white beans.

Not bad for a food that is forever linked to stinky punch-lines. In fact, it is well know in the medical community that beans can help people maintain healthy body weight, and, even lose weight. Check out this news break from The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine about beans and weight-loss:

A presentation at the recent Experimental Biology Conference revealed that people who include beans in their diets have healthier diets overall, lower body weights, and reduced risk of obesity. Researchers used data from the National Nutrition and Health Examination Survey (1999-2002) to study the associations between bean consumption, nutrient intake, and certain health parameters among children and adults.

Pretty cool, right? Personally I eat a lot of beans—which partially explains why I’m single—I love cooking navy beans with collard greens or escarole. Now, new research helps confirm this good PR for beans. According to HealthDay News rats stayed fitter on a diet of black soya beans. Krisha McCoy reports:

New research in rats suggests that black soya beans may be a wonder food of sorts, helping to prevent obesity, lower cholesterol levels and possibly even reduce risks for diabetes…


…After two weeks, the rats getting 10 percent of their energy from black soya gained half as much weight as those in the control group, and their total blood cholesterol and LDL (so-called "bad") cholesterol fell by 25 percent and 10 percent, respectively.

Dr. Fuhrman likes beans so much that he lists them as one of his top five favorite foods, and, in Eat to Live he points out that beans have also been linked to cancer-prevention. Take a look:

A large recent study examined the eating habits of 32,000 adults for six years and then watched the incidence of cancer for these subjects over the next six years. Those who avoided red meat but at white meat regularly had a more than 300 percent increase in colon cancer incidence.1 The same study showed that eating beans, peas, or lentils, at least twice a week was associated with a 50 percent lower risk than never eating these foods…


..Beans, in general, not just soy, have additional anti-cancer benefits against reproductive cancers, such as breast and prostate cancer.2

So next time you hear someone call beans a magical fruit, just smile and nod.
1. Singh, P.N., and G.E. Fraser. 1998. Dietary risk factors for colon cancer in a low-risk population. Am. J. Epidem. 148: 761-74.

2. Nelson, N. J. 1996. Is chemoprevention research overrated or under-funded? Primary Care & Cancer 16 (8): 29-30.