More beans mean less cholesterol.
Article Type: Brief article
Subject: Cholesterol (Health aspects)
Cholesterol (Causes of)
Beans (Risk factors)
Beans (Research)
Legumes (Risk factors)
Legumes (Research)
Mimosaceae (Risk factors)
Mimosaceae (Research)
Author: Reeves, Philip G.
Pub Date: 04/01/2008
Publication: Name: Agricultural Research Publisher: U.S. Government Printing Office Audience: Academic; General Format: Magazine/Journal Subject: Agricultural industry; Biotechnology industry; Business Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2008 U.S. Government Printing Office ISSN: 0002-161X
Issue: Date: April, 2008 Source Volume: 56 Source Issue: 4
Topic: Event Code: 310 Science & research
Product: Product Code: 0119600 Pulses NAICS Code: 11113 Dry Pea and Bean Farming SIC Code: 0119 Cash grains, not elsewhere classified
Geographic: Geographic Scope: United States Geographic Code: 1USA United States
Accession Number: 202705806
Full Text: Just a half cup of cooked dry beans every day has been shown sufficient to help volunteers lower their total cholesterol levels. The recent study involved 80 volunteers aged 18 to 55. Half had at least two symptoms that can lead to "metabolic syndrome," and half did not. In addition to abdominal obesity, syndrome symptoms include high triglyceride levels, low HDL "good" cholesterol, high blood sugar, or high blood pressure.

The volunteers were randomly divided into two groups of 40. For 12 weeks, one of the two groups added a half-cup serving of cooked dry pinto beans to their regular daily diets, while the other half added chicken soup instead. At the end of the study, all the volunteers who ate the pinto beans saw a reduction in cholesterol levels, confirming earlier studies by other researchers. The mechanisms responsible for this reduction are not yet fully known. Philip G. Reeves, USDA-ARS Grand Forks Human Nutrition Research Center, Grand Forks, North Dakota; phone (701) 795-8497, e-mail philip.reeves@ars.usda. gov.
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