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The long summer is not over yet, and many people are still drinking mung bean soup to relieve the heat. In fact, in addition to relieving the heat,Eat beans and drink bean soupThere are many other benefits.

A Weibo fan told me that her mother hashypertension, but she was not willing to take medicine. So she bought various grains and sent them home, asking her mother to cook the grains and drink bean paste. Fortunately, her mother was very willing to accept these dietary measures. After eating grains + bean paste for a few months, her blood pressure dropped by 20 mmHg and returned to the normal range.

In the past, many fans told me that they let their parents drink multi-grain and bean porridge every night, and as a result, their blood lipids returned to normal and they became slimmer.

Eating whole grains and beans every day is really good for controlling blood pressure and blood lipids. I won’t talk about the benefits of whole grains here, because everyone has heard a lot of popular science. Today, I will talk seriously about beans.

SoybeanMainly beans that can be used to extract oil and make tofu, including yellow soybeans, black soybeans, green soybeans, white soybeans and other colors, among which yellow soybeans have the largest output, followed by black soybeans.

TheirproteinThe content is as high as 35% or more.FatThe content is between 16% and 20%, and there are a lot ofDietary fiberand oligosaccharides, but the starch content is very low. Therefore, they cannot be used as staple food, and they cannot be cooked to a sticky or sandy state. The dietary guidelines recommend that everyone eat soy products every day, referring to products such as soy milk, tofu, and yuba made from soybeans.

Another category isPulse beans (dry beans, or non-oil seed legumes), including red beans, mung beans, various kidney beans (kidney beans), dried peas, dried broad beans, dried cowpeas, dried lentils, chickpeas, lentils, lupins, etc.

Their fat content is very low, and no oil can be squeezed out. With little fat, it is impossible to form an emulsification effect, so it is impossible to make soy milk. The starch content is as high as about 60%, so it can be boiled into bean paste and made into starch products such as vermicelli, vermicelli, and rice paper, which is considered a staple food ingredient.

The protein content of starchy beans exceeds 20%. Although not as high as soybeans, it is still much higher than rice, which has a protein content of only 7%, corn, 8%, common wheat, and 12% of common oats.Starchy beans are a high-protein staple food。

Starchy beans are trulyHigh potassium staple food ingredients, this may be a bit abstract.

You can understand this by comparing it with refined white rice and other grains.

By Chinese Food Composition^[1]According to data from the Institute of Agricultural Sciences, 100 grams of white rice (special grade glutinous rice), which is the Northeast rice we eat daily, contains only 58 mg of potassium. Even the less refined "standard grade glutinous rice" contains only 121 mg of potassium.

The potassium content of flour is similar. 100 grams of refined wheat flour (special grade flour) is 128 mg.

(In fact, it is difficult to buy low-processed rice such as "standard rice" or low-processed wheat flour such as "standard flour" on the market. Restaurants and families use very refined "special-grade japonica rice" and "special flour", which are even more refined than the samples measured in the ingredient list.

However, the potassium content of 100 grams of mung beans, adzuki beans, red kidney beans, and white lentils are 787, 860, 1215, and 1070 mg respectively.It is six or seven times, or even more than ten times, that of rice and flour.。

The magnesium content is similar. 100 grams of "special polished rice" and "special flour" have magnesium contents of 25 and 32 respectively, while 100 grams of mung beans, red beans, red kidney beans, and white lentils have magnesium contents of 125, 138, 164, and 163 mg respectively, which are much higher than rice and white flour.

Legumes are the most important source of plant proteinIt has been proven that replacing part of the meat protein with plant proteins such as soy protein, pea protein, and chickpea proteinHelps prevent cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases。

As early as 2014, a meta-analysis found that among eight randomized controlled human intervention studies that added starchy beans to the diet, six of the studies achieved positive results while keeping calorie intake constant.Significantly lowers blood pressureEffect^[2]。The US recommends eating half a cup of cooked beans a day., believing that eating starchy beans can effectively increase potassium, magnesium, folic acid, dietary fiber, plant protein and other phytochemicals, which are beneficial for controlling blood pressure and preventing cardiovascular disease.

The starchy bean most familiar to Chinese people is mung bean.Mung bean protein shows antihypertensive effect in animal experimentsMechanism studies have found that mung bean globulin hydrolysate not only inhibits the activity of angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE), but also directly inhibits the activity of renin, thereby regulating the renin-angiotensin system, increasing the release of nitric oxide, dilating blood vessels, and helping to lower blood pressure.^[3]。

I remember when I was a kid, my grandfather had high blood pressure, and the doctor told him to drink lily and mung bean porridge with two dates every day. At that time, I often ate the sweet dates, and let my grandfather drink the rest of the mung bean porridge. It seems that the doctor's advice was reasonable.

Although anti-nutritional factors have a bad reputation, eating too much of them can reduce food digestibility and hinder the absorption of trace elements.For people with strong digestive abilities, when consumed in moderation, they can also help prevent high blood pressure, high blood lipids, and high blood sugar.。

The bean skin of starchy beans contains a lot of polyphenols, phytic acid, saponin and other ingredients, which are beneficial to protecting blood vessel health.Even if you don’t eat the beans themselves, just drinking the bean soup, which contains almost no calories, is good for controlling high blood pressure and high blood lipids because it contains potassium, polyphenols, phytic acid, saponins and other substances.

Compared with refined white rice and white flour, starch beans contain significantly higher levels of B vitamins such as vitamin B1 and vitamin B2. However, despite this, the difference between starch beans and whole grains such as oats, quinoa, and millet in the content of these two vitamins is not that big.

but,In terms of folic acid content, starchy beans can be said to be "far ahead", with a content far higher than whole grains such as brown rice, whole wheat flour, oats, and quinoa^[4]Adequate dietary folic acid supply is beneficial for controlling homocysteine ​​levels, while high homocysteine ​​levels are an independent risk factor for cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases. Folic acid combined with other B vitamins such as vitamin B2, B6, and B12 can achieve better results.

For people who are overweight or obese, weight loss is essential when it comes to controlling blood pressure.Starchy beans are high in satiety and low in glycemic index (GI). Adding them to food can help control weight.^[5]。

Appropriately use starch beans to replace white rice and white flour staple foods, such asPorridge made from starchy beans + rice, bean rice made from starchy beans + rice, mixed bean noodles made from pea flour/mung bean flour + flourEtc., can effectively increase satiety, and make it easier to reduce food intake without affecting nutrient intake, thereby achieving weight loss effects.

Many people worry that cooking mung beans into mung bean paste may increase the glycemic index (GI) and is not suitable for people who need to control blood sugar. In fact, there is no need to worry about this, becauseAll starchy beans, including mung beans, adzuki beans, lentils, chickpeas, various kidney beans, various dried peas, dried cowpeas, etc., are all low GI ingredients。

According to current measurement data, the GI value of mung beans cooked at normal pressure is only 27, and that of red beans is 24; the GI value of canned chickpeas, which taste soft and chewy, is 42, and that of canned kidney beans is 52.^[1].so,Even if the beans are cooked until soft, they cannot reach a high GI level.。

Many friends say that eating too many beans will cause the intestines to produce gas easily and increase flatulence.

This is because starchy beans contain a large proportion of amylose, which produces resistant starch when cooled; they also naturally contain oligosaccharides, also known as "prebiotics", which promote the proliferation of beneficial bacteria such as bifidobacteria in the intestines.

In short, if the gastrointestinal function allows, drinking some bean porridge, bean soup, and eating some bean rice on a daily basis is very helpful in preventing high blood pressure, cardiovascular disease, and cerebrovascular disease, and is also good for controlling blood sugar.People with weak digestive ability and daily bloating are prone to feeling uncomfortable after eating starchy beans. Because the ingredients such as phytic acid, tannins, saponins and protease inhibitors in it will reduce the digestion and absorption rate, making the gastrointestinal tract more overwhelmed.

After all, how much starchy beans should we eat to have a healthy effect?

You don’t need to eat too much beans. Eating too much beans may cause bloating and indigestion. According to research data,Eating half a cup of cooked beans every day, which is equivalent to about 50 grams of raw beans, can have a certain effect.The specific amount to eat depends on how comfortable you feel, and you can eat different beans, such as mung beans and lentils in summer, and red beans and kidney beans in autumn and winter.

Who is not suitable to eat more starchy beans?

——It is not recommended for people with low blood pressure to eat beans every day.

——People with irritable bowel are not suitable to eat too much of these beans.

- In addition, people with abnormal kidney function and abnormal uric acid levels need to follow the doctor's advice and control their intake of beans.

In short, forFor those who need to control blood pressure, blood lipids and lose weight, and have good digestive ability, eating bean porridge, bean rice, and drinking unsweetened bean soup and bean paste regularly is a healthy dietary method that you can try.

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Fan Zhihong_Original Nutrition Information

Professor of College of Food Science and Nutritional Engineering, China Agricultural University

Beijing Food Nutrition and Human Health High-tech Innovation Center

Post Scientist

China Association for Science and Technology appoints chief expert on nutrition science communication

Vice Chairman of the Nutrition and Nutrition Branch of China Health Promotion and Education Association

Vice Chairman of the Dietary and Culinary Nutrition Branch of the Chinese Nutrition Society

Chinese Society of Gerontology and Geriatrics

Vice Chairman of the Elderly Nutrition and Food Branch

Director of China Institute of Food Science and Technology

Director of the Health Communication Branch of the Chinese Association of Preventive Medicine

PhD in Food Science, China Agricultural University