The international year of legumes, promoted by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), aims to disseminate the nutritional qualities of these legumes, foster interest in the research community and promote their consumption and cultivation since they are the foods that leave a smaller ecological footprint because they are nitrogen fixers, require less water, emit less greenhouse gases and pollute less.
As explained to Infosalus Ángeles Carbajal, professor of Nutrition at the Faculty of Pharmacy of the Complutense University of Madrid, legumes have been part of the diet for centuries due to their high nutritional value, although in recent years they have ceased to be consumed between other aspects because they have lost prestige in daily food.
“However, today we know that the nutritional qualities of legumes play an important role in health and in the prevention of many chronic diseases, as well as being sustainable foods for the environment”, comments the professor.
Until very recently, legumes have played a predominant role in the Mediterranean diet. Consumption data from the 1950s and 1960s in 20th-century Spain suggest that they were eaten daily in homes as a main dish or side dish given their great gastronomic versatility. Around the 1960s, a daily serving of legumes was consumed, while less than half of this amount is currently consumed.
But What is the reason for this notable drop in consumption? Carbajal points out that eating habits are changing. With economic and social development, people stop eating basic foods such as bread, legumes or potatoes to give way to more expensive and prestigious foods such as meat. “Legumes have been associated with times of hardship, for example, post-war Madrid, where they say they survived thanks to lentils and sardines,” says the professor.
In addition, legumes were traditionally consumed in high-calorie dishes because very fatty meats and derivatives were added and these dishes, now, with a sedentary life, are often mistakenly associated with weight gain.
The advantages
Ángeles Carbajal lists to Infosalus some of the virtues of these tasty and cheap foods:
· They have a large amount of high-quality protein, especially when eaten in combination with other foods.
· They are rich in slow-absorbing complex carbohydrates that are largely in short supply in today’s diet.
· They help in the control of glucose and cholesterol in the blood.
· They are an excellent source of fiber, which is also lacking in today’s diet.
· They contain little fat and sodium and have no cholesterol.
· They provide little amount of energy if they are used in stews with non-fatty meats.
· They also supply other important antioxidant bioactive components for the prevention of chronic diseases.
· They are foods that keep very well so that we can always have them in the pantry and use them at any time.
Drawbacks
Carbajal points out that its possible drawbacks are far outweighed by its benefits and can be easily countered, so there are no excuses for its consumption. Among these ‘justifications’ for not taking them are:
· It has been pointed out that they have components that hinder the absorption of nutrients, although the Nutrition teacher points out that the culinary process eliminates them.
· Although there are individual differences, there are people who produce flatulence. This is because they have an appreciable amount of fiber. However, when cooked and with the addition of spices and herbs such as cumin or bay leaf, they make them more digestible for these people. Preparing them as a puree also limits these possible effects.
· Long preparation time: it is true that they require more preparation and elaboration since they have to be soaked hours beforehand and require long cooking, but with pressure cookers, with increasingly affordable prices, there is no excuse.
Carbajal comments that can be bought already cooked packaged and as a trick, he suggests soaking several portions of the different legumes and draining and freezing them the next day, which will ensure that we always have them ready to cook.