Nutritional Pearls: Lose Weight Without Trying—with Beans

Robert is a 36-year-old overweight man with elevated cholesterol levels. He tells you that he often feels hungry during the day, and that healthier options like salads are rarely enough to fill him up.

How do you advise your patient?
(Answer and discussion on next page)

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Answer: A single daily serving of pulses could help with weight maintenance and weight loss efforts.

Pulses are legumes, which are described as any fruit that develops seeds lined up in a pod, like soybeans, lentils, garbanzo beans, or peas. Legumes are part of a Mediterranean-style diet, are high in protein and fiber, and have been shown to help prevent colon cancer, improve your cholesterol score (because of their high fiber content), and may even help you lose inches from your waist (improving your waist-to-hip ratio).

A team of researchers, primarily in Canada, noted that legumes are foods that are high in protein and fiber, both of which are known to help increase feelings of fullness—a feature that makes higher-protein and higher-fiber foods important in managing body weight. Would diets that specifically include pulses tend to help people maintain or lose weight?
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The Research

To find out, they searched out controlled trials that compared diets including pulses (an average of just 1 serving per day) with diets that didn't. They found 21 trials that fit their criteria, which involved 940 participants in total with follow-up periods of 6 weeks, on average. The average age of the studies' participants was 51, and their average body mass index was just over 30 kg/m² (clinically obese).

The Results

Four of the studies were designed to help the participants lose weight by cutting calories, while 17 were designed to maintain the participants' weight. The participants' height, weight, waist and hip circumferences, and amount of body fat were measured at the start and end of the trials.

Somewhat surprisingly, regardless of whether xtheir diets were designed for weight loss or weight maintenance, those following the diets that included pulses lost more weight than those on the diets that did not include pulses. The difference was losing about 0.29 kg (about 0.6 lb) more with the maintenance diets and 1.74 kg (3.8 lb) more on the diets designed for weight loss.

While this study did not see people losing more waist circumference consuming pulses, in 6 of the studies they did appear to lose more body fat—about 0.34 kg more body fat than those who did not consume pulses.

What’s the “Take-Home”?

Eight of the studies used in this meta-analysis included "mixed beans," while 4 used chickpeas, 2 used dried peas, and 1 used lentils in their interventions, so this study would not support the idea that any legume would necessarily be better than any other. One serving per day of your favorite legume could help you maintain your body weight more easily or even help you lose weight, if that is your goal.

Reference:
1. Kim SJ, de Souza RJ, Choo VL, et al. Effects of dietary pulse consumption on body weight: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. Am J Clin Nutr. 2016;103(5):1213-1223.