"Increased Lifespan From Beans"
Legumes may be the most important predictor
of survival in older people from around the globe.
They looked at five different cohorts
in Japan, Sweden, Greece, and Australia.
And of all the food factors they looked at,
only one was associated with a longer lifespan across the board:
legume intake.
Whether it was the Japanese eating their soy,
the Swedes eating their brown beans and peas,
or those in the Mediterranean
eating lentils, chickpeas, and white beans,
only for legumes intake was the result
plausible, consistent, and statistically significant
from the data across all the populations combined.
We're talking an 8% reduction in risk of death
for every 20 grams increase in daily legumes intake.
That's just like two tablespoons worth!
So if a can of beans is 250 grams
and you get 8% lower mortality for every 20 grams,
maybe if we eat a can a day we'll live forever?
Let's find out!
If you want to increase your lifespan, eat beans.
If, however, you're suicidal and want to decrease your lifespan,
A bean-free diet may increase the risk of death.
So having arrived at the one dietary fountain of youth,
what's the #1 reason people aren't clamoring for them?
Fear of flatulence.
So is that the choice we're left with?
Breaking wind or… breaking down?
Passing gas or passing on?
Turns out that people’s concerns about excessive flatulence
from eating beans may be exaggerated.
Add a half a cup of beans every day to people's diet
for months and what happens?
What's the number one symptom?
Nothing.
The vast majority of people experienced no symptoms at all,
though a few percent did report increased flatulence,
so it may occur in some individuals
but not all people are affected,
and even among those that were,
70% or more of the participants who experienced flatulence
felt that it dissipated— no pun intended—
by the second or third week of bean consumption,
so we just got to stick to it.
And you know a small percentage reported
increased flatulence on the control diet without any beans.
People have preconceived notions about beans
such that just the expectation of flatulence from eating beans
"may influence their perceptions of having gas."
They didn't actually measure farts in this study,
they just asked people what their perception
of the amount of gas they had was,
and we know from previous studies
that you give someone a product
labeled to contain something that may cause intestinal distress
and it causes more intestinal distress
whether it actually contains the ingredient or not.
"In other words, just thinking they were eating (it) caused"
"digestive distress, or the perception of it, to a proportion of persons."
So, people thinking beans are going to cause gas
may just be more likely to notice the gas they normally have.
Either way, it tends to go away.
After a few weeks of daily bean consumption,
people perceive their flatulence occurrence
returns to normal levels.
In this other study where they added
more than a half a cup of kidney beans
to people's daily diets the research subjects reported
that the discomfort they initially felt
within the first day or two of adding beans
quickly disappeared, so again stick with it.
Bottom line—no pun intended:
An increasing body of research
and the latest Dietary Guidelines supports the benefits
of a plant-based diet, and legumes specifically,
in the reduction of chronic disease risks.
In some people it may result in more flatulence initially,
however, doctors should emphasize
that it will decrease over time if we just keep it up
and the nutritional attributes of beans in the diet
outweighs the potential for transitory discomfort.
The long-term health benefits of bean consumption are great.
And indeed eating beans in the long term
may make your term—on earth-- even longer.