According to a recent review and meta-analysis of more than 2000 scientific papers, eating one serving of beans, peas, chickpeas or lentils on average per day can reduce ‘bad’ or LDL cholesterol by five percent thereby lowering your risk of heart disease.
The study in leading journal, Obesity, suggests that eating a handful of pulses every day (circa 130g) as part of your diet can have ‘tangible’ effects on cholesterol levels.
Lead author, Dr. John Sievenpiper is an established expert on the power of the pulse and has broadcast extensively on the subject.
According to Health24, researchers have found that people who regularly swapped a serving of white rice for one of beans had a 35% lower chance of showing the symptoms, which precede Type 2 Diabetes.
The potential benefits of pulses on heart disease are highlighted in this video.
Pulses have a number of dietary and environmental benefits, which is one of the reasons that the UN has made 2016 International Year of Pulses.