Eat Those Beans!

Sometimes I come across neat nutrition/journal articles and this one was so interesting that I wanted to share it.

Apparently, eating legumes (beans, lentils, soy, tofu, miso, natto, peans, chickpeas, etc.) are so healthful for us that a study of long-lived individuals showed that the more legumes consumed, the better your health:

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Legumes: the most important dietary predictor of survival in older people of different ethnicities.

Asia Pac J Clin Nutr. 2004;13(2):217-20.

PMID: 15228991

To identify protective dietary predictors amongst long-lived elderly people

(N= 785), the "Food Habits in Later Life "(FHILL) study was undertaken among

five cohorts in Japan, Sweden, Greece and Australia. Between 1988 and 1991,

baseline data on food intakes were collected. There were 785 participants

aged 70 and over that were followed up to seven years. Based on an

alternative Cox Proportional Hazard model adjusted to age at enrollment (in

5-year intervals), gender and smoking, the legume food group showed 7-8%

reduction in mortality hazard ratio for every 20g increase in daily intake

with or without controlling for ethnicity (RR 0.92; 95% CI 0.85-0.99 and RR

0.93; 95% CI 0.87-0.99, respectively). Other food groups were not found to

be consistently significant in predicting survival amongst the FHILL

cohorts.

(Full text of the article can be found here, although it is in pdf form)
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Later in the article, there was another quote I found interesting:

"The significance of legumes persisted even after controlling for age, gender and smoking.  Legumes have been associated with long-lived food cultures such as the Japanese (soy, tofu, miso, natto), the Swedes (brown beans, peas) and the Mediterranean people (lentils, chickpeas, white beans)."

Translated, that means that an increased intake of legumes was shown to be statistically beneficial EVEN IF the people eating them were older than the others in the study, males instead of females, and smokers instead of non-smokers.  That's a big deal!

I've been trying to learn different ways to eat beans and legume products.  Right now, since I've been eating Eat to Live for so long, my tried-and-true method is to put generous amounts of canned beans (straight from the can, because I like the way it tastes on salad) on my salads, along with my tomatoes, etc.  Dr. Fuhrman (of Eat to Live) asks that we eat a cup of legumes/beans per day.  I haven't been eating that much, but as I transition out of weight-loss into weight-maintenance, I will have more daily calories with which to play, and that will free me up to boost my legume consumption!

Comments

[Under the Sky]

Beans! Beans! They're wonderful fruit...

OK, all that aside. I DID call you today to thank you from my heart for my beautiful beautiful flowers. I mean they are GORGEOUS!! And there were so many that I have them in three different vases all over the house. They are just SO beautiful.

THANK YOU!!!

And I made a really good bean soup this week. Pictures to come on that too. :+)

I LOVE YOU!

Kate

[scottsdale hcg doctor]

Any kinds of it I eat it, i know the nutrients they can give to my body. Such a healthy food to include on every diet.

[casino]

Une dette de gratitude est en ordre concernant les offrir à vos pièces. J'ai positivement ravis en elle. J'ai mis un canal à mon locale pour les gens ici, donc suppléant peut le lire attentivement. Mes disciples ont sur ​​les mêmes passe-temps. Beaucoup obligés concernant transmettre le poste décente me porter!

[John]

Thanks for sharing this article. I am a Massage Therapist and I have believed in the importance of physical activity. I now have some research to back my rationale to implement at least 20 minutes per day of aerobic activity. I am going to search for some supplemental to jogging, jump ropes and kids aerobic dance dvd's so that I advise my clients to try incorporating exercise as a lifelong habit! I love the ideas of using stationary bikes, dance dance revolution type games etc. Thanks so much for your blog.