The potential health benefits of legumes as a good source of dietary fibre

Abstract

Dietary fibre has been shown to have important health implications in the prevention of risks of chronic diseases. The objective of the present study was to determine the potential health benefits of legumes as a good source of dietary fibre. Six to ten local legumes were studied as follows: cowpeas, mung beans, pole sitao, chickpeas, green peas, groundnuts, pigeon peas, kidney beans, lima beans and soyabeans. The following studies were conducted: (a) mineral availability, in vitro; (b) glycaemic index (GI) in non-diabetic and diabetic human subjects; (c) the cholesterollowering effect in human subjects with moderately raised serum cholesterol levels. The highest Fe availability among legumes was for lima beans (9·5 (SEM 0·1)) while for Zn and Ca, the highest availability was for kidney beans (49·3 (SEM 4·5)) and pigeon peas (75·1 (SEM 7·1)), respectively. Groundnuts have the lowest Fe (1·3 (SEM 1·1)), Zn (7·9 (SEM 1·3)) and Ca (14·6 (SEM 2·8)) availability. Legumes are low-GI foods (, 55), ranging from 6 (chickpeas) to 13 (mung beans). Kidney beans showed significant reductions for both total (6 %) and LDL-cholesterol (9 %), and groundnuts for total cholesterol (7 %; P,0·05). We conclude that mineral availability from legumes differs and may be attributed to their mineral content, mineral -mineral interaction and from their phytic and tannic acid content; legumes are considered low-GI foods and have shown potential hypocholesterolaemic effects. The above studies can be a scientific basis for considering legumes as functional foods.

Legumes Consumption among Young and Adult Residents In Sicily (South Italy): Evidence and Predictive Factors

“…Humans have observed, over many centuries, that diets low in meat and high in cereals and legumes are beneficial for health. Epidemiological studies over the last 20 years have conformed these observations i.e that eating legumes can extend life by preventing chronic disease, including cardiovascular disease, coronary artery disease [4], diabetes, bowel cancer [5] and overweight as well as improving gut health [6,7,8]. The consumption of legumes is recommended by public health agencies around the world.…”

Usefulness of Three under Exploited Vegetable Legumes - A Review

“…mostly to developing world), along with limited exploitation of their available resources on various scales to show the potential benefits of their use to the modern consumers (Fantz et al, 1991;O'Brian and Vance, 2007;Wyk and Boatwright, 2013). Nonetheless, vegetable legumes are highly rich in carbohydrates, oils, proteins, minerals, vitamins, micronutrients along with other important phytochemicals and bioactive compounds essentials for healthy life in order to overcome various cardiovascular and chronic diseases like cancer (Sandberg, 2002;Trinidad et al, 2009;Kaushik et al, 2015;Papandreou et al, 2018). In addition, these legumes are also acknowledged to have antinutritional factors harmful to human health like trypsin inhibitors, phytic acid etc, which further reduces their possible use as food and fodder.…”

A review of the Hispanic paradox: time to spill the beans?

“…These SCFAs have established anti-inflammatory effects, lowering systemic inflammation (IL-6 and CRP levels) through their inhibition of HMGCoA reductase, with downstream inhibition of the pro-inflammatory transcription factor nuclear factor (NF)-kB ( fig. 4) [73][74][75][76][77][78]. That statins and a diet high in fibre (promoting SCFA formation) both appear to effectively attenuate systemic inflammation through HMGCoA reductase inhibition [16,73,74,78], and reduce lung cancer incidence by nearly 50% [16], is both surprising and potentially of considerable public health interest.…”

“…4) [73][74][75][76][77][78]. That statins and a diet high in fibre (promoting SCFA formation) both appear to effectively attenuate systemic inflammation through HMGCoA reductase inhibition [16,73,74,78], and reduce lung cancer incidence by nearly 50% [16], is both surprising and potentially of considerable public health interest. While past epidemiological studies have spuriously associated high intakes of vitamins (b-carotene and a-tocopherol) with a lower risk of lung cancer [61], it may have been the high fibre in these vitamin-rich diets and not the vitamins that actually conferred the protective effect.…”

“…While past epidemiological studies have spuriously associated high intakes of vitamins (b-carotene and a-tocopherol) with a lower risk of lung cancer [61], it may have been the high fibre in these vitamin-rich diets and not the vitamins that actually conferred the protective effect. The anti-inflammatory and anti-neoplastic effects of colonic SCFAs are thought to underlie the protective effect of fibre in bowel cancer [78]. However, SCFAs found in the systemic circulation, and derived from the combined effects of dietary fibre and colonic bacteria [73,74], may have several relevant protective functions in COPD and lung cancer.…”