Paleo Diet Analysis
With the rise in popularity of the Paleo diet, a lot of people have started deamonizing beans along with grains and dairy. There really isn't anything wrong with eating beans. The food shaming has got to stop. Beans contain some great nutrients such as fiber, and can definitely be part of a healthy diet. They do have some anti-nutrients that can make them hard to digest. Let's take a look at two of those in more depth.
Lectins
Lectins are "sticky" proteins that bind to stuff once they are in our systems. Most foods contain them, but only grains and beans have them in large quantities (1) Lots of lectins in the diet can damage the lining of the small intestine and increase intestinal permeability - which is bad because intestinal permeability = not absorbing nutrients from your food. They can also impair growth, …show more content…
destroy skeletal muscle, and interfere with the function of the pancreas. The good news is that soaking, sprouting and cooking beans makes the nutrients easier to digest and more available to the body. In fact, cooking legumes for as little as 15 minutes almost completely inactivates the lectins they contain. (2)
Phytic Acid
Phytic acid is an anti-nutrient that makes it hard to digest minerals - specifically, on iron and zinc (3, 4). Cooking beans doesn't drastically reduce the phytic acid content like it does lectins. Soaking and sprouting might have a menial effect, but much of the phytic acid remains in beans. Phytic acid is found in lots of foods that are perfectly healthy - like nuts, specifically almonds.
As long as our diets don't consist primarily of foods with larger quantities of anti-nutrients, phytic acid and lectins are not something to worry too much about. While legumes do contain beneficial nutrients and fiber, they are not as nutrient-dense as other foods. Some of the nutrients they contain are not bioavailable due to their antri-nutrients. (14) Eating beans a few times a week is great, but any more than that, and you risk crowding out some of the more nutrient dense foods.
Soy - A Special Kind of Legume
Soybeans are legumes that originated in Asian countries. It is a common protein substitute for vegetarians. This is one of the most highly processed food sources, and I do not recommend consuming most products containing soy. This is especially important for pregnant women, new moms and babies, because of the soy’s isoflavanes which create hormone disrupting properties (15). This can also increase the risk of breast cancer (19, 20, 21).
In one study, 48 women were split into two groups.
One group ate their normal diet, the other supplemented with 60 grams of soy protein.
After only 14 days, the soy protein group had significant increases in the epithelial cells in the breasts, which are the cells that are most likely to turn cancerous (22).
It is also a GMO crop - Over 90% of soy produced in the U.S. is genetically modified and the crops are sprayed with the herbicide Roundup, which may be associated with adverse effects on health (1). Interestingly, whole soybeans are rarely consumed in Western countries. The majority of soy in the diet comes from the refined products that are processed from the soybeans. While whole soybeans can have questionable nutrient properties, processed soy and soybean oils should be avoided.
100 grams (about 3.5 ounces) of mature, boiled, whole soybeans contain large amounts of Manganese, Selenium, Copper, Potassium, Phosphorus, Magnesium, Iron, Calcium, Vitamin B6, Folate, Riboflavin (B2), Thiamin (B1) and Vitamin K. This portion of soybeans also contains 173 calories, with 9 grams of fat, 10 grams of carbs (6 of which are fiber) and 17 grams of protein
(4).
The respectable amount of nutrients needs to be taken with a grain of salt, because soybeans are also very high in phytates, substances that bind minerals and reduce their absorption.
The fatty acids in soybeans are mostly Omega-6 polyunsaturated fats. This can be problematic because too many Omega-6s in the diet can lead to inflammation and all sorts of health issues (5, 6). For this reason, it is very important to avoid soybean oil (and other vegetable oils that are high in Omega-6) and processed foods that contain it.
While whole soy that has been fermented may have some health benefits, any product you see on a supermarket shelf that has soy as an ingredient is more than likely a highly processed food.
Lectins
Lectins are "sticky" proteins that bind to stuff once they are in our systems. Most foods contain them, but only grains and beans have them in large quantities (1) Lots of lectins in the diet can damage the lining of the small intestine and increase intestinal permeability - which is bad because intestinal permeability = not absorbing nutrients from your food. They can also impair growth, …show more content…
destroy skeletal muscle, and interfere with the function of the pancreas. The good news is that soaking, sprouting and cooking beans makes the nutrients easier to digest and more available to the body. In fact, cooking legumes for as little as 15 minutes almost completely inactivates the lectins they contain. (2)
Phytic Acid
Phytic acid is an anti-nutrient that makes it hard to digest minerals - specifically, on iron and zinc (3, 4). Cooking beans doesn't drastically reduce the phytic acid content like it does lectins. Soaking and sprouting might have a menial effect, but much of the phytic acid remains in beans. Phytic acid is found in lots of foods that are perfectly healthy - like nuts, specifically almonds.
As long as our diets don't consist primarily of foods with larger quantities of anti-nutrients, phytic acid and lectins are not something to worry too much about. While legumes do contain beneficial nutrients and fiber, they are not as nutrient-dense as other foods. Some of the nutrients they contain are not bioavailable due to their antri-nutrients. (14) Eating beans a few times a week is great, but any more than that, and you risk crowding out some of the more nutrient dense foods.
Soy - A Special Kind of Legume
Soybeans are legumes that originated in Asian countries. It is a common protein substitute for vegetarians. This is one of the most highly processed food sources, and I do not recommend consuming most products containing soy. This is especially important for pregnant women, new moms and babies, because of the soy’s isoflavanes which create hormone disrupting properties (15). This can also increase the risk of breast cancer (19, 20, 21).
In one study, 48 women were split into two groups.
One group ate their normal diet, the other supplemented with 60 grams of soy protein.
After only 14 days, the soy protein group had significant increases in the epithelial cells in the breasts, which are the cells that are most likely to turn cancerous (22).
It is also a GMO crop - Over 90% of soy produced in the U.S. is genetically modified and the crops are sprayed with the herbicide Roundup, which may be associated with adverse effects on health (1). Interestingly, whole soybeans are rarely consumed in Western countries. The majority of soy in the diet comes from the refined products that are processed from the soybeans. While whole soybeans can have questionable nutrient properties, processed soy and soybean oils should be avoided.
100 grams (about 3.5 ounces) of mature, boiled, whole soybeans contain large amounts of Manganese, Selenium, Copper, Potassium, Phosphorus, Magnesium, Iron, Calcium, Vitamin B6, Folate, Riboflavin (B2), Thiamin (B1) and Vitamin K. This portion of soybeans also contains 173 calories, with 9 grams of fat, 10 grams of carbs (6 of which are fiber) and 17 grams of protein
(4).
The respectable amount of nutrients needs to be taken with a grain of salt, because soybeans are also very high in phytates, substances that bind minerals and reduce their absorption.
The fatty acids in soybeans are mostly Omega-6 polyunsaturated fats. This can be problematic because too many Omega-6s in the diet can lead to inflammation and all sorts of health issues (5, 6). For this reason, it is very important to avoid soybean oil (and other vegetable oils that are high in Omega-6) and processed foods that contain it.
While whole soy that has been fermented may have some health benefits, any product you see on a supermarket shelf that has soy as an ingredient is more than likely a highly processed food.