Beans | Bean Recipes | Health Benefits of Beans

Diabetes and Risks of Being Overweight

What is the problem and what is known about it so far?
For adults, measuring their waist can often predict if they are more likely to get insulin resistance (when the body can’t handle glucose in the blood). The larger their waist is, the more likely they are to get insulin resistance. But it isn’t known whether a large waist size is a warning sign in young people.

Why did the researchers do this particular study?
Researchers wanted to see if a large waist predicts if children and teenagers are more likely to get insulin resistance.

Who was studied?
The study included 56 black and 89 white kids who were between 8 and 17 years old. All of the kids were healthy, without major illness or disease.

How was the study done?
Researchers measured the height and weight of each kid. Then, the researchers calculated each kid’s body mass index (a measure of weight in comparison to height). The kids also had blood tests to see how well their bodies handled glucose. They also took other tests that measured body fat and told where it was located on their bodies.

What did the researchers find?
Waist size was better than body mass index at predicting which kids were more likely to get insulin resistance.

What were the limitations of the study?
There are differences in how people measure waist size. Some people may get the wrong measurements.

What are the implications of the study?
A large waist is a warning sign of future health problems. A person’s waist size should be recorded as an important sign of health.

What is the problem and what is known about it so far?
For adults, measuring their waist can often predict if they are more likely to get insulin resistance (when the body can’t handle glucose in the blood). The larger their waist is, the more likely they are to get insulin resistance. But it isn’t known whether a large waist size is a warning sign in young people.

Why did the researchers do this particular study?
Researchers wanted to see if a large waist predicts if children and teenagers are more likely to get insulin resistance.

Who was studied?
The study included 56 black and 89 white kids who were between 8 and 17 years old. All of the kids were healthy, without major illness or disease.

How was the study done?
Researchers measured the height and weight of each kid. Then, the researchers calculated each kid’s body mass index (a measure of weight in comparison to height). The kids also had blood tests to see how well their bodies handled glucose. They also took other tests that measured body fat and told where it was located on their bodies.

What did the researchers find?
Waist size was better than body mass index at predicting which kids were more likely to get insulin resistance.

What were the limitations of the study?
There are differences in how people measure waist size. Some people may get the wrong measurements.

What are the implications of the study?
A large waist is a warning sign of future health problems. A person’s waist size should be recorded as an important sign of health.

Diabetes and Risks of Being Overweight

Beans: Agriculture to Health Article
FN-602, Reviewed and Reprinted June 2007
Jane U. Edwards, Ph.D., LRD, Nutrition and Health Specialist

Bean Production
In the United States of America, North Dakota ranks first in production of dry beans with 32 percent of the nation’s total. In 2006, North Dakota produced 52 percent of the nation’s pinto beans and 36 percent of the nation’s navy beans. Several other classes of beans are produced. The highest production of beans is found along the Red River Valley in both North Dakota and Minnesota, and in east-central North Dakota.

History
Dry beans are native to North and South America and were an important staple in the Indian food supply prior to the immigration of Europeans. Dry beans are known to have been farmed as far back as 6,000 to 5,000 B.C. Some tribes on the Northern Plains were primarily hunters of bison and other animals. Other tribes were more agrarian and grew beans and other crops and used them for trade. Various Indian tribes in the Americas grew different kinds of dry beans.

Health Benefits
Healthy Weight
Including beans in the diet on a regular basis can help control weight. Beans are low in both fat and calories, and high in dietary fiber and protein. The dietary fiber in beans helps slow the absorption of carbohydrate, which may prevent hunger from re-occurring as soon. Eating less frequently may help reduce caloric intake.

Diabetes
The high content of dietary fiber in beans, especially soluble fiber, helps slow the absorption rate of carbohydrate. A slower rate of carbohydrate absorption moderates blood sugar peaks related to food intake.

Heart Health
The nutrient profile of beans contributes to heart health. Beans are low in total fat, saturated fat and sodium. They are high in dietary fiber, especially soluble fiber; folate, a B-vitamin; potassium; and other minerals. Beans help maintain normal ranges for several risk factors for heart disease: blood cholesterol, blood pressure and blood homocysteine levels.

Colon Cancer
Beans are a good source of “resistant starch.” The breakdown products from “resistant starch” appear to play a role in reducing the risk of colon cancer.

Vegetarians
Beans are an excellent protein source for vegetarians providing more than twice as much protein per serving as cereal grains. Combining beans and cereal grains together provides all the protein building blocks (amino acids) required in the diet. Beans are also a good source of iron and zinc for vegetarians who consume no meat.

Daily Amounts
Including ½ cup of beans several times each week, within a well-balanced diet, resulted in a reduced risk of heart disease in a clinical trial called DASH. In addition to the four to five servings each week from the “nuts, seeds and beans” category, the diet pattern also included other food groups: dairy, fruits and vegetables, grains, and meat.

Rehydration Technique
The “hot soak” method is the recommended procedure to rehydrate beans. Add the beans to boiling water. Simmer for 2-3 minutes. Remove from the heat, cover and soak for 4-16 hours. Drain the rehydrated beans and discard the soak water. Add fresh water to the beans and simmer until tender.

Reduce Gas Formation
Gas is produced from beans when bacteria found in the large intestine break down “non-digestible” carbohydrates. The following methods may help reduce gas formation:

Eat beans on a regular and frequent basis.
Discard the soak water used to rehydrate dry beans.
Utilize a commercial digestive-enzyme product.

Nutrient Composition of Beans

(one half cup serving)

115 calories
20 gram carbohydrate
7 gram dietary fiber
7 gram protein
0.5 gram total fat
0 gram saturated fat
0 mg cholesterol 0 mg sodium
400 mg potassium
144 mcg folate
47 mg magnesium
2.23 mg iron
0.93 mg zinc

Beans: Agriculture to Health

Article

RESEARCHERS SUGGEST VIRAL INFECTION MAY CAUSE OBESITY

DOC News January 1, 2005
© 2005 American Diabetes Association

The Obesity Virus?
RESEARCHERS SUGGEST VIRAL INFECTION MAY CAUSE OBESITY

Nick Kolakowski

Could obesity be due, at least in part, to a viral infection? The idea may seem farfetched, but then so was the idea that peptic ulcers are caused by bacterial infection.

A group of researchers have implicated the adenovirus Ad36—one of a family of about 50 viruses that cause colds, upper respiratory infections, gastrointestinal problems, and eye inflammations—in the development of obesity in humans and other animals.

At least six pathogens are suspected of causing obesity in animals, including canine distemper virus, an avian retrovirus, Borna disease virus in rats, and the scrapie agent in mice and hamsters.1

In 1992, Nihil V. Dhurandhar, PhD, then at the University of Bombay, India, reported on the avian adenovirus SMAM-1, which caused excessive intra-abdominal fat deposition and paradoxically low serum cholesterol and triglyceride levels in chickens.2 Antibodies against SMAM-1 virus were found in 10 of 52 humans with obesity screened in Bombay. Those people with antibodies had a significantly higher body weight and body mass index (BMI).3

According to Richard Atkinson, emeritus professor of medicine and nutrition at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, animals infected with the Ad36 virus have a 50% to 100% gain in body fat. When Atkinson, Dhurandhar, and colleagues screened humans for specific Ad36 antibodies, they found that around 30% of the people with obesity had the antibodies, compared with 10% of the normal-weight people.

“We can’t say that the virus caused obesity in all those people,” Atkinson says. “It’s still speculation, some say a gross speculation.” Yet the research and its implications have led him to set up the Richmond, Va.–based Obetech Obesity Research Center, where people can pay for testing to see if their extra pounds are caused by pizza or pathogen.

ONGOING RESEARCH

Because of restrictions on human testing, Atkinson, Dhurandhar—now at Wayne State University in Detroit—and colleagues have limited research to mice and monkeys. Studies show that animals inoculated with the virus gain weight even as their food intake remains the same. Research also suggests that Ad36 is transmissible from animal to animal.

“Our animal experiments showed that the virus could be passed from one infected animal to its cage-mate within 12 hours of infection,” Dhurandhar says. “Also, blood from the infected animal, injected in the veins of a fresh set of animals, transmitted the virus and obesity.”

If a virus is involved at all in the development of obesity, no one is suggesting it is the sole cause. Obesity is the result of a number of factors, some genetically based and others that are environmental.

Other researchers think that the virus isn’t much of a factor in the nation’s expanding waistlines. Cardiologist Thomas Kottke, MD, of Regions Hospital Heart Center in St. Paul, Minn., says that trying to blame the obesity epidemic on a virus is avoiding reality. “It’s like saying, `I don’t need to quit smoking because by the time I get lung cancer there’ll be a cure,’” he says. “And there’s no cure, and it kills 85% of the time.”

Instead, Kottke believes the answer to the obesity epidemic is right in front of us: people are consuming more calories than they’re using. “We don’t have to get off our butts to change the channel, the cost of food is at record lows, and there are cities all over that are impossible to walk in.”

Other doctors and researchers give the idea of an obesity virus slightly more credibility. “It is a possibility that some people might be affected by a virus,” says F. Xavier Pi-Sunyer, MD, director of the Obesity Research Center at St. Luke’s-Roosevelt Hospital in New York City. “You’ve got to postulate that somehow [the virus] is getting into the brain and affecting the brain centers and somehow affecting appetite.”

The possible role of Ad36 “is an interesting observation, but I would not give high priority to these problems,” says Pi-Sunyer. “I think the main cause of our obesity problem is that we eat too much.”

TESTING AND IMPLICATIONS

Atkinson thinks Obetech’s test for Ad36 antibodies will be important for people suffering from overweight or obesity. “Obese people really suffer an immense amount of discrimination, they’re told they’re lazy and that it’s a character flaw,” he says. “If it’s a virus, that puts a whole new spin on things. They’d feel a whole lot better.”

“But the more important use of this test will be for skinny people,” Atkinson continues. “If you’re skinny and your test is positive, it means you have a good chance of becoming obese due to this virus. It’s easier to prevent obesity than to change or reverse it.” Atkinson’s hope is that more people will eventually “want to know their obesity virus status.”

In the long term, the identification of a virus responsible for some incidence of obesity may lead to more clinically relevant screening tests, perhaps a vaccine or antiviral therapy, and a greater acceptance of obesity as a disease.

References

1. Dhurandhar NV: Infectobesity: obesity of infectious origin. J Nutr 131 (Suppl.):2794S –2797S, 2001.[Abstract/Free Full Text]
2. Dhurandhar NV, Kulkarni P, Ajinkya SM, Sherikar A: Effect of adenovirus infection on adiposity in chicken. Vet Microbiol 31:101–107, 1992.[Medline]

3. Dhurandhar NV, Kulkarni PR, Ajinkya SM, Sherikar AA, Atkinson RL: Association of adenovirus infection with human obesity. Obes Res 5:464–469, 1997.[Abstract]

RESEARCHERS SUGGEST VIRAL INFECTION MAY CAUSE OBESITY

 

Welcome to the World of Beans…

 

Don’t know beans about beans? Or, do you ‘use your bean’ quite often? 

Either way — you’ve come to the right place. 

 

On this site we celebrate the many benefits of beans, one of nature’s most perfect foods. Here you can discover more than 100 delicious bean recipes, find tips on how to cook beans, learn more about the health and nutritional properties of beans and much more! 

 

Americanbean.org is the source for everything ‘bean’ and was the official site of The U.S. Dry Bean Council, an organization of bean producers, canners, processors packagers and others in the bean industry, united with a common goal — spreading the good news about beans. 

 

We’ve given you a few recipes, and plenty of other resources on food in the United States. Gradually we will be expanding this site to include more on World Food Programs, and add more about the humble bean. 

 

The American Dry Bean Board. A new site has been made for the board.

 

You can contact them on:

 

United States Dry Bean Council

P.O. Box 550

Grapeview, WA 98546 

USATel: +1 (360) 277-0111/0112

Fax: +1 (360) 233-0621

Email: randy (at) usdrybeans.com

 

Eat More Beans…  Live Longer…

BEAN CHILI WITH MEAT

 

 

Ingredients for 4 persons:

 

250 g dark red kidney beans, soaked overnight

250 g rice

250 g minced meat

300 g tomato chopped tomatoes

250 g grated cheddar cheese

1 green pepper

5 onions

4 large garlic cloves

1 chili pepper

1 pinch of cumin powder

 

Drain the beans.  Peel the onions and the garlic, wash the pepper and remove its seeds and whitish veins.

 

Place the beans in a pot, together with the bouquet garnish, one clove of garlic and one onion.  Cover with water, bring to the boil and simmer for one and a half to two hours.

 

Chop the remaining onions and garlic and the pepper.  Brown the meat in a little oil in a frying pan.

 

Add the chopped garlic, onion and pepper and cook for 10 minutes.  Then add the tomatoes and chilli pepper and continue cooking for another five minutes.

 

Meanwhile, cook the rice in salted water.  Drain.  Layer the ingredients on a plate, starting with the rice and finishing with the beans on top. 

 

Sprinkle with cheese  before serving.