Nutritional Value of Legume

Legumes are genuine capsules of concentrated nutrition. Their use has many benefits, not only for health, but also for the environment.
Legumes provide:

• Protein: No other food is as rich in protein as legumes in their natural state. Soy contains 36.5% of its weight, although most other legumes contain all essential and non-essential amino acids in proportions very similar to those in animal protein. Only the sulfured amino acid methione is found in less than ideal amounts. This minor methione deficiency is less pronounced in soy, whose protein is the most complete of all legumes. Some experts feel that concern over the lack methionine in legumes has been exaggerated. This is because tests evaluating protein quality have been conducted in laboratory rats. It has been recently shown that these animals require more methione than humans.

Grains are rich in methionine, and as such, are able to supplement the protein in legumes when they are eaten at the same meal, or even the same day.

• Vitamins B1,B2,B6, niacin, and folates, which are very important to the proper functioning of the nervous system and skin.
• Minerals, particularly iron: All legumes contain two to three times more iron than meat. This is non-hem iron, which is not absorbed as well as the hem iron in meat.However, the vitamin C from other foods in the meal increases the absorption of non-hem iron of legumes to levels similar to hem iron of meat.
• Fiber: From 15% to 30% of legumes dry weight is fiber, an amount superior to that of whole grains. The fiber in legumes in contrast to bran fiber, is mostly soluble, does not irritate the bowel and has a greater cholesterol-lowering effect.
• Pythochemicals: All legumes, and especially soy, contain isoflavones, phytosterols, and other pythochemicals with healing properties.

Benefits of Legumes

• Nutritious – they provide abundant protein and fiber, while containing very little fat and no cholesterol. Legumes provide approximately the same caloric level as grains for the same weight, but two to four times more protein.
• Economical – If the same amount of money used to buy a certain amount of meat were used to buy legumes, the amount purchased would be several times greater in terms of calories, proteins, vitamins, and minerals.
• Ecologically Responsible – One hectare of land dedicated to legume production provides up to seven times more calories and protein that if it were used to raise livestock for meat or milk. In addition, legumes provide a natural fertilizer to the soil.
• Medicinal:

1. They reduce cholesterol: Participants of medical studies who ate 120 g (about 4 ounces ) of cooked beans a day for three weeks had their cholesterol and triglyceride levels reduced by 10%
2. Antidiabetic: Legumes have a low glycemic index, which means that they raise blood glucose levels very little. Additionally, they reduce the need for insulin in diabetics, and constitute a bonafide diabetes preventive.
3. They help avoid constipation: They promote bowel function due to their higher fiber content.
4. They help avoid arterial hypertension,given their high levels of potassium and low sodium levels.
5. They combat iron-deficiency anemia, given their richness in this mineral, in addition to copper, zinc, and other trace elements.
6. They lower the risk of gallstones (cholesthiasis), since they promote elimination of bile salts through the feces. These salts are the raw materials in the formation of the gallstones.
7. They reduce the risk of colon cancer, due to their fiber content.

Drawbacks to Legumes

• Uric acid: Legumes contain purines that convert to uric acid in the body, They are foods that acidify the blood and the urine. If they are eaten with fruits and vegetables, which are alkalizers, and the kidneys function properly, the acidification produced by legumes presents no problem for health. This notwithstanding, legumes should be avoided in cases of gout or excess uric acid.
• They cannot be eaten raw: Because of the antinutritional and toxic factors, they cannot be eaten in their natural state. Fortunately, soaking, cooking, sprouting or other means of processing legumes destroys these undesirable substances.
• Their protein is deficient in methionine (except soy); This deficiency is easily resolved by combining legumes with grains, thus gaining a complete protein. The non-essential amino acid cystine is also present in lower that is ideal, however, the body can synthesize it, in addition to obtaining it from grain sources.
• Vitamins: Scarcity of provitamin A and vitamin C, absence of vitamin B12.
• Flatulence
• Diseases: Consumption of certain legumes can cause these two diseases: Lathyrism: causes paralysis and nervous disorders. Eating large quantities of ill-cooked flour from the purple vetch (Lathyrus sativus) is a species of pea that is very drought-resistant which has been used during times of famine. If it is properly cooked, it looses its toxicity. Favism: destruction of the red blood cells in certain persons sensitive to Fava beans.

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This article was taken from the book, Encyclopedia of Foods and their Healing Power, written by Dr. George Pamplona-Roger. To know more about this book please visit the online bookstore.