Improved Digestion
Like most bean varieties, adzuki beans are high in dietary fiber, one of the key elements of digestive health. Fiber stimulates peristaltic motion, moving food through the digestive tract and enabling the smooth intake of nutrients from food. Fiber also helps to eliminate constipation, diarrhea, and bloating, as well as more serious conditions like colon cancer.
Diabetes Prevention
The dietary fiber in adzuki beans has a second purpose, regulating the activity of insulin receptors in the body to ensure that blood sugar levels remain normal. This can help prevent the onset of diabetes or manage the symptoms and prevent those spikes and drops that are so dangerous for diabetics.
Improved Heart Health
Folate, potassium, magnesium, and dietary fiber all combine into a powerful cardiovascular boost in adzuki beans. Dietary fiber helps to balance cholesterol levels, while potassium relaxes blood vessels and increases blood flow, thereby reducing the blood pressure and strain on the heart. This can help lower your chances of developing atherosclerosis, which means protecting you from a heart attack and stroke.
Growth & Repair
There is a significant amount of protein in adzuki beans, which is a crucial element of our diet, particularly for vegetarians and vegans who don’t get protein from animal sources. Proteins break down into essential amino acids that our body needs to create new cells, tissues, and organs for both growth and repair. Foods like adzuki beans can also provide us with an energetic boost due to that high protein content.
Weight Loss
Many people in Asian countries and abroad turn to adzuki beans (and other bean varieties) for weight loss. The dietary fiber and protein content sates the appetite and makes you feel full, without contributing a sizable amount of calories. 115 grams of adzuki beans (1/2 cup) is only equivalent to 150 calories, which means that you can get a whole lot of nutritive benefits without packing on any pounds.
Detoxification
Adzuki beans contain a unique mineral known as molybdenum in quite high concentrations. This is a trace mineral and is not found in many foods, but it plays a crucial part in the detoxification of the liver. Even a half-serving of adzuki beans provides 100% of the daily recommended intake of molybdenum.
Prevention of Birth Defects
The high content of B vitamins, particularly folic acid, can prevent the development of birth defects in unborn babies. Neural tube defects are a direct result of a folate deficiency, so the high content in adzuki beans can ensure a healthy delivery.
Adzuki beans are an awesome source of essential nutrients, vitamins and minerals, and they're used to make red bean paste. They're packed with protein, fiber, folate, manganese, phosphorus, potassium, copper, magnesium, zinc, iron, thiamine, vitamin B6, riboflavin, niacin, calcium and more.
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