New Study: Daily Serving Of Beans, Peas, Chickpeas Or Lentils Significantly Reduces LDL Cholesterol

Eat beans.

This was a meta-analysis of 26 randomized controlled trials (RCTs). RCTs are the gold standard of scientific investigation. It studied the effect of dietary pulses (beans, chickpeas, lentils, peas) on serum lipids.

Effect of dietary pulse intake on established therapeutic lipid targets for cardiovascular risk reduction: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials, Canadian Medical Association Journal, 7 April 2014

It found “a significant reduction in LDL cholesterol” from “a median dose of 130 g/d of pulses (about 1 serving daily) over a median follow-up of 6 weeks.”

“Our findings suggest that dietary pulse intake significantly reduces LDL cholesterol levels.”

Of note:

“A previous meta-analysis of 19 trials involving more than 18,000 participants showed that trials of statins and those of non-statins including dietary interventions had a similar 1-to-1 association between LDL cholesterol and cardiovascular mortality. That is, a 1% reduction in LDL cholesterol translated to a 1% reduction in cardiovascular mortality. Therefore, the reduction of 5% observed in our meta-analysis suggests a potential risk reduction of 5%–6% in major vascular events.”

3 thoughts on “New Study: Daily Serving Of Beans, Peas, Chickpeas Or Lentils Significantly Reduces LDL Cholesterol”

RB April 7, 2014 at 6:06 pm

Beans are good. I don’t know why so called “nutrition experts” and diet books don’t give beans the respect they deserve. I wrote a blog about it a while back. http://walk101.blogspot.com/2013/03/beans-need-more-respect.html Although beans are bland, it easy to spice them up and to add them to soups and salads without overpowering the other foods is the dishes.

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Bix Post authorApril 8, 2014 at 6:59 am

So glad to hear someone else is touting beans. Really, when you look at traditional cultures around the world, their staples were a starch and a bean … Asia it was rice and soybeans, India was rice and lentils, Mexico was red beans and rice, and here it was corn and kidney beans.

When I took the plunge and gave up meat, I looked for ways to eat more beans. And you’re right, you can add some, like chick peas or kidney beans, to salads; you can make all kinds of bean soups and chilis and stews; if you’re inclined there are all the soy foods… soy milk, tofu, tempeh, soy nuts, edamame. Of course peanut butter. Sometimes when I’m in a hurry I boil some frozen peas, the petite kind that aren’t so starchy, a little salt and pepper, delish!

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