The New Complete Book of Food

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r Beans

(Black beans, chickpeas, kidney beans, navy beans, white beans)

See also Bean sprouts, Lentils, Lima beans, Peas, Soybeans.

Nutritional Profile

Energy value (calories per serving): Moderate

Protein: High

Fat: Low

Saturated fat: Low

Cholesterol: None

Carbohydrates: High

Fiber: Very high

Sodium: Low

Major vitamin contribution: Vitamin B 6 , folate

Major mineral contribution: Iron, magnesium, zinc

About the Nutrients in This Food

Beans are seeds, high in complex carbohydrates including starch and

dietary fiber. They have indigestible sugars (stachyose and raffinose), plus

insoluble cellulose and lignin in the seed covering and soluble gums and

pectins in the bean. The proteins in beans are limited in the essential

amino acids methionine and cystine.* All beans are a good source of the B

vitamin folate, and iron.

One-half cup canned kidney beans has 7.5 g dietary fiber, 65 mcg

folate (15 percent of the RDA), and 1.6 mg iron (11 percent of the RDA for

a woman, 20 percent of the RDA for a man).

Raw beans contain antinutrient chemicals that inactivate enzymes

required to digest proteins and carbohydrates. They also contain factors

that inactivate vitamin A and also hemagglutinins, substances that make

red blood cells clump together. Cooking beans disarms the enzyme inhibi-

tors and the anti-vitamin A factors, but not the hemagglutinins. However,

the amount of hemagglutinins in the beans is so small that it has no mea-

surable effect in your body.

* Soybeans are the only beans that contain proteins considered “complete” because

they contain sufficient amounts of all the essential amino acids.