6 benefits of red beans, consume if you want to be healthy

6 min readJan 25, 2021

Red beans are often used as ingredients for making food, such as soup, rendang, or as a complement to desserts. However, the benefits of red beans are not only limited to food ingredients. Furthermore, red beans are also able to provide various benefits for the health of the body.

Red beans contain a variety of nutritional intake that the body needs, such as protein, carbohydrates, fiber, antioxidants, vitamin C, B vitamins, folate, and minerals including potassium, magnesium, calcium, phosphorus, iron and zinc.

Eating red beans regularly can reduce the risk of various dangerous diseases, such as heart disease and diabetes. Red beans can also help you get the ideal body weight.

Benefits of Red Beans The

following are various benefits of red beans that you need to know and it is a shame to miss:

Maintain heart health
Love your heart by regularly eating red beans. In 200 grams of red beans, it contains at least 46 grams of fiber, more than the amount of fiber you need per day, which is between 25–30 grams. Fiber is an important intake in maintaining heart health.
Red beans also contain potassium which is good for your heart. Potassium can help your heart beat normally if you have heart rhythm problems. In addition, potassium can also help lower high blood pressure.
The recommended daily intake of potassium is 4700 mg. Meanwhile, in 180 grams of red beans, there are about 2500 mg of potassium. This amount has met 72 percent of daily potassium needs.
Prevents cancer cell growth
Red beans not only contain fiber which is good for heart health, but also antioxidants that can preventgrowth cancer cell. Studies show that consuming enough fiber and antioxidants that can be obtained from kidney beans can reduce the risk of developing cancer.
Controlling blood sugar
Even though it’s small, it turns out that red beans are a very good food for diabetics. Research shows that kidney beans are rich in fiber and protein, and have aglycemic index low, can help diabetics control blood sugar levels, prevent metabolic diseases, and help the effectiveness of insulin in the body. Diabetics are advised to eat canned kidney beans without sodium (salt) or boiled red beans every week.
Meeting the nutritional needs of pregnant women
Red beans are also good for consumption during pregnancy, because they contain important nutrients for the health of the mother and fetus, such as protein, folic acid, and iron. When pregnant, women need more iron and folic acid. Both of these nutrients are necessary for the growth of the baby and the placenta. During pregnancy, a woman will also experience an increase in the number of blood cells in the body, so that more iron is needed to form new blood cells to ensure adequate oxygen in the body and the fetus.
Lack of iron during pregnancy can cause babies born prematurely or born with low birth weight, pregnant women experience anemia, mood disorders, or even depression.
Lose weight
In order to get the ideal body weight, it is not uncommon for people to go on a diet in an unhealthy way. A healthy and correct diet is to meet a variety of nutrients the body needs, including protein and fiber, pay attention to the number of calories consumed, and avoid consuming saturated fats and sugar.
Red beans can fulfill this healthy diet. Because red beans contain insoluble fiber which can improve digestion and prevent constipation, as well as protein needed for tissue repair.

Although good for health, kidney beans can cause gas in the intestines. In raw condition, kidney beans also contain toxins that can be harmful to the body.

After knowing the various benefits of red beans that you can get, start incorporating red beans into your daily diet. You can process it into soup, drink, or mix it into salads.

Here are 6 benefits of kidney beans for our health.

1. Digestion

One of the very high content in red beans is fiber. In every 100 grams, kidney beans offer roughly 13 grams of soluble and insoluble fiber. This insoluble fiber is mostly found in the skin while soluble fiber is mostly found in the peas.

Insoluble fiber is effective for pushing food in the intestines so that your digestive tract is smoother. This fiber is also able to remove remaining toxins in the body and maintain the acidity of your stomach. This can help you avoid digestive problems such as constipation and diare.Meanwhile, the soluble fiber will dissolve together with water and bind it to become thicker like a gel. This gel will stay in the stomach for quite a long time. Hence, your stomach will not be left empty for too long. Your risk of getting an ulcer is reduced.

In addition, kidney beans also contain starch, which is a type of complex carbohydrate that is similar to soluble fiber. In your large intestine, this starch will help the development of various good bacteria. Good bacteria are needed to fight various digestive problems.

2. Maintain heart health

Red beans are a source of protein that is free of cholesterol and low in fat. You can get approximately 20 grams of protein for every 100 grams of kidney beans. This figure is sufficient for 40% of your daily protein needs. By eating red beans, you can meet your protein needs without having to worry about cholesterol or saturated fat levels in your body. Meanwhile, if you eat meat to meet your protein needs, you can’t help but increase your fat and cholesterol levels. In addition, the soluble fiber contained in red beans is also responsible for balancing the levels of good cholesterol (HDL) and bad cholesterol (LDL).

Eating red beans can also control your blood pressure. Red beans are rich in minerals such as folate, calcium, magnesium, and potassium which can suppress homocysteine levels in the blood. Homocysteine itself is one of the triggers for coronary heart disease. In addition, the benefits of red beans for heart health are to lighten the work of blood vessels and improve blood circulation to the heart.

3. Control your appetite.

Because kidney beans are rich in protein, soluble fiber, and complex carbohydrates, eating red beans can make you full longer. That way, you won’t be easily tempted to find snacks or other foods. For those of you who are trying to lose weight, the benefits of red beans on this one are certainly a pity to miss.

4. Prevent diabetes

Fiber in kidney beans helps keep glucose from being released in the blood too quickly. Likewise with complex carbohydrates in kidney beans. Unlike simple carbohydrates that dissolve easily, complex carbohydrates will not produce glucose in the blood as fast as simple carbohydrates. That way, the level of sugar in your blood will not suddenly rise, leading to diabetes. Red beans are also effective in preventing insulin resistance which is at risk of worsening blood sugar levels in people with diabetes.

5. Prevent cancer

A study conducted by Harvard Medical School revealed that a diet high in fiber can prevent cancer, especially breast cancer. Another French study published in The Journal of Nutrition has shown that a diet rich in fiber can reduce the risk of prostate cancer by nearly 50%. Meanwhile, in every 100 grams of red beans, you can get 52% of your daily fiber needs. Regularly eating red beans will keep you from the risk of cancer.

6. Prevent premature aging

The benefits of red beans are not only to prevent disease, but also to maintain youthfulness. Red beans are high in antioxidants, even exceeding the antioxidants in certain vegetables and fruits. Even among other beans such as soybeans or peanuts, red beans have been the champion in preventing premature aging. This is because the darker the color, the higher the antioxidant content. Antioxidants are able to ward off free radicals and prevent damage to body cells. These things are factors that trigger premature aging.