Current:Home > Contact-usWant to lower your cholesterol? Adding lentils to your diet could help.-LoTradeCoin
Want to lower your cholesterol? Adding lentils to your diet could help.
View Date:2024-12-23 16:49:30
A cup of lentils a day keeps the doctor away?
Eating lentils every day could be the key to lowering your cholesterol without causing stress on your gastrointestinal tract, according to a study published earlier this year in the journal Nutrients.
Researchers conducted a randomized clinical trial involving 38 adults who all had an "increased" waist circumference, defined by more than 40 inches for men and 35 inches for women. For 12 weeks, participants either ate lunches that featured 980 grams per week (a little less than a cup a day) of cooked lentils, or lunches that had no lentils.
Those who ate lentils every day ended up having lower levels of total cholesterol and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, also known as LDL or "bad" cholesterol, because it can raise your risk of stroke and heart disease. Regardless of whether or not they ate lentils, all participants reported either no GI symptoms or only mild ones.
These findings, researchers said, further proved that eating pulses — a subsection of legumes that includes lentils, beans and peas — was a helpful strategy to lower the risk of disease, or even reverse disease progression.
How else can an increased lentil intake boost your health? Here's what nutrition experts want you to know.
Are lentils good for you?
Lentils are a type of legume high in fiber, protein, vitamins, minerals and antioxidants.
"They’re also one of the higher protein legumes, which makes them particularly filling and satiating," registered dietitian Miranda Galati tells USA TODAY. "What I love most about lentils is that you’re getting major bang for your buck nutritionally, because they’re low cost but still so nutritious and filling."
Past research has also shown lentil intake to be helpful for managing diabetes and preventing breast cancer and digestive diseases, according to the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
How to lower your cholesterol:What to know so you can avoid cardiovascular disease
Can you overeat lentils?
For most people, it's generally fine to eat legumes — including lentils — every day. In fact, consuming them can not only prevent the aforementioned health ailments, a 2014 study published in Nature showed that they can actually help to treat those diseases in people who already have them.
"Lentils have anti-inflammatory and antioxidant effects in the body, so they’re a great food to eat regularly," Galati says.
Some creators on social media are "spreading fear about lectins and anti-nutrients in legumes, but the benefits far outweigh those exaggerated risks," she adds. Lectins are a type of protein that binds to carbohydrates and resist being broken down in the gut, which can lead to digestion issues including stomach pain, bloating, gas and diarrhea, per Harvard.
The good news: cooking legumes inactivates most lectins, Harvard notes. There isn't actually much research on the long-term health effects of active lectins on the human body, and most of the research that does exist is done on people in countries where malnutrition is common, which casts doubt on the idea that lectins in legumes are actually what's causing larger health issues.
What are the healthiest beans to eat?Boost your daily protein and fiber with these kinds.
"If you’re eating cooked — not raw — beans, and your digestion can handle them, there’s very little risk to consuming them daily," Galati says.
veryGood! (82579)
Related
- 10 Trendy Bags To Bring to All of Your Holiday Plans
- Savannah Chrisley Reveals She Went on a Date with Armie Hammer
- UAE police say they have seized $1 billion worth of Captagon amphetamines hidden in doors
- The Constitution's disqualification clause and how it's being used to try to prevent Trump from running for president
- Georgia lawmaker proposes new gun safety policies after school shooting
- Watch: 12-year-old Florida boy who learned CPR from 'Stranger Things' saves drowning man
- On 'GUTS', Olivia Rodrigo is more than the sum of her influences
- Micah Parsons: 'Daniel Jones should've got pulled out' in blowout loss to Cowboys
- Week 10 fantasy football rankings: PPR, half-PPR and standard leagues
- Parents of autistic boy demand answers after video shows school employee striking son
Ranking
- Jessica Simpson’s Sister Ashlee Simpson Addresses Eric Johnson Breakup Speculation
- Industrial Plants in Gary and Other Environmental Justice Communities Are Highlighted as Top Emitters
- California lawmakers vote to let legislative employees join a labor union
- Georgia man almost lost leg to a brown recluse spider bite. What to know about symptoms that can cause excruciating pain.
- US inflation may have picked up in October after months of easing
- Prime-time headache for NFL? Aaron Rodgers' injury leaves league's schedule in tough spot
- North Carolina court upholds law giving adults 2-year window to file child sex-abuse lawsuits
- Georgia family of baby decapitated during birth claims doctor posted images online
Recommendation
-
Younghoo Koo takes blame for Falcons loss to Saints: 'This game is fully on me'
-
'The biggest story in sports:' Colorado chancellor talks Deion Sanders, league realignment
-
Missouri lawmakers fail to override Gov. Parson’s vetoes, and instead accept pared-back state budget
-
Dancing With the Stars Season 32 Cast Revealed: Did 5 Random People Recognize the Celebs?
-
Too Hot to Handle’s Francesca Farago Gives Birth, Welcomes Twins With Jesse Sullivan
-
Officer heard joking over death of pedestrian struck by another officer
-
World Cup referee Yoshimi Yamashita among first women match officials at Asian Cup
-
Man accused of killing Purdue University dormitory roommate found fit for trial after hospital stay