Effect of Consuming Beans for One Month on Blood Lipids, Satiety, Intake Regulation and Body Weight

Overview

This project investigates the effect of regular consumption of commercially available processed white beans (5 cups per week) on food intake, body weight, blood pressure, satiety hormones and glycemic response over a 4-week period. We have chosen to provide participants with canned white beans, the most accessible and frequently consumed bean in North America. They are inexpensive, a good source of high quality nutrients and ready to eat. Based upon published literature and short-term studies conducted in our laboratory, we hypothesize that regular consumption of commercially available canned beans will increase satiety and improve the control of food intake, body weight, blood glucose and blood lipids.

The metabolic syndrome is a clustering of chronic disease risk factors, including abdominal obesity, dyslipidemia, elevated blood pressure and elevated fasting blood glucose. A main treatment for metabolic syndrome is lifestyle modification (alterations in diet and/or physical activity patterns) resulting in weight loss. Beans are easily incorporated into the diet and may lead to the attainment and maintenance of healthy a body weight and improved metabolic control. Canned baked navy beans (with tomato sauce) have a low glycemic response following consumption, however, whether this effect has long-term benefits on glycemic control requires further investigation. OBJECTIVE To determine the effect of consuming 5 cups per week of commercially available canned navy beans over 4 weeks on risk factors associated with the metabolic syndrome. Subjects Inclusion criteria: Men and women (n=16) between 35 and 55 years of age with a body mass index (BMI) of 27 to 40 kg/m2. Exclusion criteria: smoking or any major surgery/medical condition within the last 6 months, use of medications that could interfere with the study outcomes, gastrointestinal, liver or kidney disease and women who were pregnant/lactating