A review of the nutritional value of legumes and their effects on obesity and its related co-morbidities.Rebello CJ1, Greenway FL, Finley JW.Author informationAbstractSince the 1970s, the proportion of oerwei!ht an" obese people in the #nite" States has !rown at an alar$in! rate. %n awareness of theconse&'ences of obesity on the health an" well(bein! of in"ii"'als is ei"ent in the plethora of strate!ic plans at the local an" national leels, $ost of which hae lar!ely fallen short of their !oals. )f interentions contin'e to be 'ns'ccessf'l, it is esti$ate" that appro*i$ately three of fo'r %$ericans will be oerwei!ht or obese by +0+0. ,reention of e*cess wei!ht !ain can be acco$plishe" with relatiely s$all chan!es in lifestyle behaio'rs to control bo"y wei!ht. S$all s'stainable chan!es are perhaps better than efforts to achiee lar!er chan!es that cannot be s'staine". Le!'$es can be a al'able foo" by which the nee"s of the 'n"erno'rishe" or 'n"er(sere" pop'lations co'l" be $et. -hey can be incorporate" into $eat pro"'cts, s'ch as sa'sa!es an" b'r!ers, to lower the ener!y "ensity of these foo"s while proi"in! i$portant n'trients. Replacin! ener!y("ense foo"s with le!'$es has been shown to hae beneficial effects on the preention an" $ana!e$ent of obesity an" relate" "isor"ers, s'ch as car"ioasc'lar "isease, "iabetes an" the $etabolic syn"ro$e. -his reiew e*plores the n'tritional al'e an" obesity(relate" health benefits of le!'$e cons'$ption while foc'sin! on p'lses.Cereal grains, legumes, and weight management: a comprehensive review of the scientifc evidence P. G. Williams University of Wollongong, peterw@uow.edu.au . !. Grafenauer University of Wollongong, sarag@uow.edu.au !. ". #$hea University of Wollongong, %aneo@uow.edu.au&here is strong evidence that a diet high in wholegrains is associated with lower '(), waist circumference and ris* of +eing overweight, that a diet highin wholegrains and legumes can - help reduce weight gain, and that signifcant weight loss is achieva+le with energy controlled diets that are high in cereals and legumes. &here is wea* evidence that high inta*es of refned grains may cause small increases in waist circumference in women. &here is no evidence that low car+ohydrate diets that restrict cereal inta*es o.er long term advantages for sustained weight loss. &here is insu/cient evidence to ma*e clear conclusions a+out the protective 01 e.ect of legumes on weight.2222Cereal grains and legumes in the prevention of coronary heart disease and stro*e: a review of the literature ) 3light and P Clifton C)4# 5uman 6utrition, 7delaide, outh 7ustralia, 7ustralia 7 num+er of reviewers have e8amined studies investigating the relationship +etween coronary heart disease and stro*e prior to 9111. ince then, several *ey studies have +een pu+lished. 3ive studies have e8amined the relationship +etween wholegrain consumption, coronary heart disease :C5; and perhaps a ?1> reduction in ris* for those who eat wholegrain food ha+itually vs those who eat them rarely. 6otwithstanding the fact that f+re is an important component of wholegrains, many studies have not shown an independent e.ect of f+re alone on C5; events. &hus in terms of C5; prevention, f+re is +est o+tained from wholegrain sources. Wholegrain products have strong antio8idant activity and contain phytoestrogens, +ut there is insu/cient evidence to determine whether this is +enefcial in C5; prevention. olu+le f+re clearly lowers cholesterol to a small +ut signifcant degree and one would e8pect that this would reduce C5; events. &here have +een a small num+er of epidemiological studies showing soy consumption is associated with lower rates of heart disease. Countering the positive evidence for wholegrain and legume inta*e has +een the 6urses 5ealth tudy in 9111 that showed women who were overweight or o+ese consuming a high glycaemic load :G@< diet dou+led their relative ris* of C5; compared with those consuming a low G@ diet. 7lthough the literature relating G@ with C5; events is somewhat mi8ed, the relationship with ris* factors such as 5;@ cholesterol, triglyceride and C reactive protein is relatively clear. &hus, car+ohydrateArich foods should +e wholegrain and, if they are not, then the lowest glycaemic inde8 :G)< product should +e used. Promotion of car+ohydrate foods should +e focused on wholegrain cereals +ecause these have proven to +e associated with health +enefts. &here is insu/cient evidence a+out whether the addition of other components of wholegrains such as polyphenolics or minerals :such as magnesium or Binc< would improve the health +enefts of refned grain foods and this needs investigation. Whether adding +ran to refned car+ohydrate foods can improve the situation is also not clear, and it was found that added +ran lowered heart disease ris* in men +y C1>. &his persisted after full ad%ustment :including G@< suggesting, at least in men, that f+re may +e more important than G). &hus there are two messages: :0< &he inta*e of wholegrain foods clearly protects against heart disease and stro*e +ut the e8act mechanism is not clear. 3i+re, magnesium, folate and vitamins 'D and vitamin " may +e important. :9< &he inta*e of high G) car+ohydrates :from +oth grain and nonAgrain sources< in large amounts is associated with an increased ris* of heart disease in overweight and o+ese women even when f+re inta*e is high +ut this reEuires further confrmation in normalweight women. 4ecommendation: Car+ohydrateArich foods should +e wholegrain and if they are not, then the lowest G) product availa+le should +e consumed. Glycemic inde8 is largely irrelevant for foods that contain small amounts of car+ohydrate per serve :such as most vegeta+les