Latest Fact Sheet

Season 4, Ep 10 - Beans

·We buy over 20 million cans of Baked Beans each year.

·In 2009, Watties baked beans were our fifth favourite supermarket product.

·Baked Beans are a healthier choice than spaghetti because they contain more protein and fibre, while having comparable amounts of carbohydrates and fat.

·Baked Beans can be high in salt – light versions can have a third less salt than standard versions.

·Sugar is also added to baked beans – standard versions contain between 4% and 8% while light versions are about 5% sugar.

·In New Zealand our baked beans aren’t baked! The beans are boiled and then put in the can. In the UK some canned beans are actually baked.

·Only around half a can of baked beans is actually beans – the other half is the sauce.

·One benefit of the sauce in cans of baked beans is the lycopene content. Lycopene is a phytochemical found in tomatoes but processing and cooking tomatoes makes it easier to absorb. ·Lycopene has been found to help protect skin from UV damage and men from prostate cancer. ·Beans are a good source of dietary fibre – particularly soluble fibre. The average New Zealander isn’t consuming enough dietary fibre.

·As well as keeping us regular, dietary fibre can help protect against cancer, diabetes and heart disease.

·Beans really do cause flatulence! They contain a type of sugar called oligosaccharide which our body cannot digest – instead, bacteria in our gut digest the sugars for us and when they do they create gases which then have to escape our digestive system.

·Beans can be divided into two categories – pulses and vegetables. Pulses are usually dried and when they’re harvested they’re more developed than beans which are vegetables.

·Examples of pulses: kidney beans, navy beans (which are used in Baked Beans), cannellini beans, borlotti beans, chickpeas.

·Examples of vegetable beans: green beans, peas, snow peas, runner beans, snap peas.

·Dried pulses need to be boiled for ten minutes before eating because they contain lectins. Lectins are toxins that can make you very ill – causing extreme vomiting and diarrhoea. Heating them to high temperatures detoxifies them, hence the need to boil.

·Canned pulses have already been cooked so you don’t need to worry about lectins in them. Vegetables like green beans and peas don’t contain lectins and can be eaten raw.

·Green beans and peas are both good sources of vitamin c – 100g of peas can provide you with a third of your RDI.

·Green beans and peas also contain carotenoids which may have protective effects against cancer, heart disease and the deterioration of eyesight.

·When it comes to convincing children to eat vegetables they’re not keen on, research suggests that repeated exposure is the most important factor. Children need to be exposed to a new food 10-15 times before they’ll accept it.

·Role modelling (both parental and peer) and presentation can also have an effect on encouraging children to eat vegetables.

·Beans – both the pulses and the vegetables – can be a good source of protein. Of all vegetable sources of protein, beans are one of the best along with soy (which is a special type of bean) and quinoa.

·The quality of protein in beans isn’t as good as that found in meat because they don’t contain all of the essential amino acids that we need to get from our diet. However, different kinds of vegetable proteins have different amino acids so by mixing and matching, vegetarians can still get all of the essential amino acids they need.

·Mixing different vegetables to get protein has been a part of traditional diets in countries such as Mexico and India as well as throughout the Middle East and Africa.

·An advantage that beans do have over meat in terms of protein is their fat content – there is very little fat in beans compared to meat which is one of the biggest contributors to our saturated fat intake.

·Beans are a good source of folate – a type of B vitamin that we aren’t consuming enough of. Folate is important for our body’s continual maintenance and reproduction of new cells. An inadequate folate intake can increase the risk of developing cancer.

·Folate is also important in the early stages of pregnancy – it protects the foetus against Neural Tude Defects (NTDs). NTDs occur when there are impairments in the development of the spine or brain and can lead to life-long conditions such as spina bifida or anencephaly.

·The mandatory fortification of bread with folic acid was proposed to help reduce the number of NTDs – controversy around it meant that it was postponed. The government will make their final decision about this in May 2012.

·Bisphenol A is a chemical used in the plastic lining of some cans. It is possible for small amounts of it to leech out into canned foods like beans.

·According to MAF Food Safety, the amounts of Bisphenol A found in canned beans are tiny and not of concern to human health.

Read more about Beans via these links.