Eating beans prevents diabetes chances

Recent results of a study developed in Costa Rica have shown that eating beans prevents the chances of developing diabetes. More than that, the study says that people should replace rice with beans, Reuters reports.

A study in Costa Rica, which was conducted on 1900 people, men and women, showed that beans have a positive effect when it comes to preventing diabetes. In fact, volunteers who replaced a rice serving with a beans serving lowered their chance of developing diabetes symptoms with 35%.


According to the experts, beans are richer in fiber, have more protein and have a lower glycemic index “meaning they induce much lower insulin responses”, said Frank Hu, a professor of nutrition and epidemiology at the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston and representative of the team of researchers who led the study. Hu added that the biggest sin that the rice does is that it is “very easily converted into sugar by the body. It's very highly processed, it's pure starch and starch is a long chain of glucose.”

The study consisted in observing the diet habits of 1900 people from 1994 to 2004 and monitoring the health risks, including diabetes and heart disease.  None of the participants had diabetes at the beginning of the study. In time, researchers have noticed that people who ate rice on a constant basis and very often had a higher blood pressure and lower “good cholesterol.” Also, their waist circumference has enlarged. All these are rick factor for type 2 diabetes.

People who ate more beans had none if the symptoms mentioned above. Those who replaced rice with beans started experiencing the lowering of the blood pressure and a dropping in the other health variable values by 35%.

 According to experts, beans have the least influence on blood sugar, which puts them in the category of miracle foods.