Adding pulses to your diet can help you lose weight, says study
Posted on: 02/Apr/2016 10:02:34 AM
A study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition has said that eating one serving of pulses a day could help people lose weight. Pulses may include beans, peas, chickpeas or lentils.
Researchers at the St. Michael`s Hospital in Canada have said that consuming about 130 grammes each day of pulses can lead to a weight loss of 0.34 kilograms. They said, despite their known health benefits, not many people eat pulses on any given day and most do not eat the full serving. So there is room for most of us to incorporate dietary pulses in our diet and realise potential weight management benefits.
940 adult men and women who took part in 21 clinical trials were meta analysed. Without making an effort to reduce other foods over six weeks, they lost an average of 0.34 kilograms by adding a single serving of pulses to their diet.
Pulses are foods that break down slowly. In technical terms, they have a low Glycemic Index or GI.
The researchers say, (Pulses) can be used to reduce or displace animal protein as well as bad fats such as trans-fat in a dish or meal. Around 90 per cent of weight loss interventions fail, resulting in weight regain, which may be due in part to hunger and food cravings. This new study fits well with our previous work, which found that pulses increased the feeling of fullness by 31 per cent, which may indeed result in less food intake.
A recent study had found that eating on average one serving a day of beans, peas, chickpeas or lentils can also reduce bad cholesterol by five per cent and therefore lower the risk of cardiovascular disease. Knowing which foods make people feel fuller longer may help them lose weight and keep it off. Though the weight loss was small, our findings suggest that simply including pulses in your diet may help you lose weight, and we think more importantly, prevent you from gaining it back after you lose it.
