Latest news with #beans
The Sun
03-06-2025
- Health
- The Sun
The simple food swap scientists urge you to make ‘to reduce heart attack risk'
SWAPPING out beans for less healthy options could slash your risk of deadly heart attack or stroke, new research shows. Eating a cup of beans a day - whether they're dried or canned - can boost heart and metabolic health, according to scientists. 1 Daily portions of chickpeas and black beans could serve as a "simple, cost-effective" way to reduce the risk of chronic diseases, they said. The new study links chickpeas to improved cholesterol levels, which blacks beans seemed to reduce inflammation. Having high cholesterol means you have too much of a fatty substance in your blood and it could make you more likely to suffer a a heart attack or stroke. Meanwhile, chronic inflammation a culprit in many heart and circulatory conditions. Eating beans in place of less healthy options is an easy way to start eating more of them, researchers suggested. But you should be aware of any additional ingredients such as salt or sugar, they noted. The 12-week study followed 72 people with prediabetes - meaning they have higher than normal blood sugar levels. Study co-author Morganne Smith said: "Individuals with prediabetes often exhibit impaired lipid metabolism and chronic low-grade inflammation, both of which can contribute to the development of conditions like heart disease and type 2 diabetes. "Our study found that bean consumption helped significantly lower cholesterol and reduce inflammation in people with prediabetes, although glucose levels were not changed." Researchers presented their findings at the annual meeting of the American Society for Nutrition in Orlando, Florida. The two diets linked to slower cognitive decline in adults - and what foods you should be eating Ms Smith, a doctoral candidate at Illinois Institute of Technology, said: "Our study showed the benefits of consuming beans in adults with pre-diabetes, but they are a great option for everyone. "These findings could be used to inform dietary guidelines, clinicians or public health programs focused on preventing heart disease and diabetes." To increase the relevance to everyday life, the research team conducted the study with participants in free-living conditions. Participants were randomly assigned to eat either one cup of black beans, chickpeas or rice daily for 12 weeks. Blood samples were taken at the start of the study, then after six weeks and 12 weeks to track participants' cholesterol, inflammation, and blood sugar. Meanwhile, glucose tolerance tests were conducted at the start and end of the study. For the group eating chickpeas, total cholesterol decreased "significantly" from an average of 200.4 milligrams per decilitre at the start of the study to 185.8 milligrams per decilitre after 12 weeks. Ideally, total cholesterol levels should be bellow 200 to be considered healthy. How to reduce your risk of heart attacks and stroke You can reduce your risk of heart attack and stroke with many of the same methods. Heart attacks and strokes, although affecting different organs of the body, are both what we call cardiovascular events. Both arise from similar underlying conditions, such as atherosclerosis —a buildup of fatty deposits in the arteries. According to the American Heart Association, the risk factors for heart attacks and strokes are largely the same: high blood pressure, high cholesterol, smoking, obesity, physical inactivity and diabetes. Therefore, addressing these risk factors can simultaneously reduce the risk of both conditions. Here are ways you can prevent the two: Healthy diet More fruit and veg: The DASH, which emphasises fruit, vegetables, whole grains and lean proteins, has been shown to reduce blood pressure and improve heart health. Less fats: Too much saturated and trans fats can raise cholesterol levels and increase the risk of atherosclerosis. Go for healthier fats like those found in olive oil, nuts, and avocados. Limit salt: High salt intake is linked to high blood pressure, a major risk factor for both heart attack and stroke. The NHS recommends no more than 6g of salt per day for adults. Fibre: Foods high in soluble fibre, such as oats and beans, can help lower cholesterol levels. Exercise Walking, running, cycling, swimming - whatever you like, do it! Aerobic exercise can strengthen the heart and improve circulation. The NHS advises at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic activity or 75 minutes of vigorous-intensity activity each week. Strength training exercises can help control weight, improve cholesterol levels, and reduce blood pressure. It is recommended twice a week by the NHS. Manage blood pressure Healthy diet and exercise can help keep your blood pressure in check. But it is worth monitoring it yourself after the age of 40, at least, when the NHS invites adults for a check-up every five years. High blood pressure often has no symptoms but significantly increases the risk of heart attack and stroke. Quit smoking One of the best ways to quit smoking is to use resources provided by NHS Smokefree. Support groups, medications, and other tools to help quit smoking such as vapes could be what you need to kick the habit for good - and it's free. Limit booze Excessive alcohol consumption can increase blood pressure and contribute to weight gain, which can snowball and become a heart health risk. The NHS recommends not regularly drinking more than 14 units of alcohol per week. For the participants consuming black beans, the average level of pro-inflammatory cytokine interleukin-6 - a marker of inflammation - was 2.57 picograms per millilitre at the outset and significantly decreased to 1.88 picograms per millilitre after 12 weeks. No significant changes were observed in markers of glucose metabolism. Ms Smith added: "There are a lot of ways to incorporate beans into your regular diet as a cost-effective way to support overall health and reduce the risk of chronic diseases. "You can blend them to add some thickness to a soup base, add them as a salad topping, or pair them with other grains like rice or quinoa." For the next phase of their study, the researchers plan to examine how consuming black beans and chickpeas influences gut health to better understand the connection between the gut microbiome and metabolic health.
Medical News Today
29-05-2025
- General
- Medical News Today
Why do beans make people so gassy?
Beans can cause people to fart due to the carbohydrates they contain. In particular, beans contain oligosaccharides, which are non-digestible, fermentable fibers that can cause excessive gas in some people. The body cannot easily digest oligosaccharides. Therefore, these undigested carbohydrates reach the large intestine, where bacteria help to break them down. This results in the production of gas as a by-product of this digestive process. Certain oligosaccharides that are present in beans are responsible for producing more gas than other carbohydrates. For example, beans are rich in raffinose family oligosaccharides (RFOs) , which include carbs such as raffinose and stachyose. The body does not naturally contain an enzyme known as α-galactosidase, which is responsible for breaking these carbs down. Instead, these carbs travel to the large intestine where they undergo microbial fermentation by colonic bacteria. This results in the production of gases such as hydrogen, methane, and carbon dioxide, which causes flatulence. Producing excessive gas can result in the following symptoms: farting abdominal rumblings abdominal discomfort cramps diarrhea nausea If a person believes they are experiencing these symptoms due to eating beans, it is advisable to keep a food journal. This will allow them to record what they have eaten and when they experience flatulence.
Forbes
22-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Forbes
NYT ‘Strands' Today: Hints, Spangram And Answers For Friday, May 23rd
Today's NYT Strands hints and answers Credit: New York Times Looking for Thursday's Strands hints, spangram and answers? You can find them here: Well the day has finally come. It's my last Strands guide for the time being. I'll be off the rotation for a couple of weeks, but I'll be back sometime in June — the best month of the year — to help you uncover words once again. For now, let's solve this Strands! Strands is the newest game in the New York Times' stable of puzzle games. It's a fun twist on classic word search games. Every day we're given a new theme and then tasked with uncovering all the words on the grid that fit that theme, including a spangram that spans two sides of the board, revealing more about the rest of the words on the grid. Spoilers ahead. Read on for today's theme and some hints to help you uncover today's words. Instead of giving you the first two letters of each word, today I'm giving out three hints instead of two. Today's Theme: The magical fruit. Hint: The more you eat the more you toot. Clue: The more you toot, the happier you'll be! Here are the first two letters of each of today's words: Remember, spoilers ahead! Today's spangram is: BEANSALAD Here's the full list of words: Here's the completed Strands grid: Today's Strands Credit: Erik Kain If you like beans, this won't be too hard of a Strands for you, though I think even the best of us struggles with the spelling of CANNELLINI which, even once I knew it was there, took me a few tries. Of course, I knew this was beans-related thanks to the very obvious theme 'Beans beans the magical fruit, the more you eat, the more you toot' and so forth. It was only a matter of time before I started seeing them everywhere: GREEN beans, KIDNEY beans, PINTO beans, BLACK beans. I knew which ones to look for and I found them, lickety-split. Now I'm going to go make a burrito. How did you do on your Strands today? Let me know on Twitter and Facebook. Be sure to check out my blog for my daily Wordle guides as well as all my other writing about TV shows, streaming guides, movie reviews, video game coverage and much more. Thanks for stopping by!
Daily Mirror
17-05-2025
- General
- Daily Mirror
Strawberries will grow better in your garden if you do one simple thing
Don't lose your prize crop of these quintessentially British berries to common pests and gardening pitfalls with easy steps that even experts love Life in the garden is getting busier as plants and flowers burst into life, bees start buzzing, the dawn chorus breaks the silence each morning and common pests are flying and crawling around again. But let's not lose early crops to hungry visitors - there are plenty of tried and tested tactics to ward them off. With strawberries, for instance, when fruit starts to develop, cover the soil around the plant with black plastic or straw - this will prevent the fruits from making contact with the soil and rotting. Then use environmentally friendly methods to keep slugs away - one of the most effective can be extremely satisfying (if you're not scared of handling the critters) – is to just pluck them off after dark with the aid of a torch. And use nets to protect fruit from birds. Here are my other jobs to do in the garden this week: On sunny days, it can really heat up in the greenhouse. Use shading when necessary and keep everything watered daily. In the veg garden you can sow outdoor courgettes, runner beans, French beans, sweetcorn and marrows as well as successional sowing of radishes, lettuces and spring onions. Thin out seedlings sown earlier. Plant outdoor tomato plants and pinch out side shoots. Inspect gooseberries for sawfly, remove if found and prune current season's growth back to five leaves. This shouldn't remove any developing fruit which grows mainly on old wood. If you haven't been sowing from seed, there's a huge selection of flowering plants available in garden centres now – plug plants are good value and will leap into growth in the heat. Aphid watch – especially if you have lupins and roses. You can remove by hand or with a hose. If you like it to look manicured, lawns will need weekly mowing so make sure you have a compost bin or area to put clippings to good use. Or ditch the lawnmower and let the bees feed on the daisies and clovers. Breathtaking gardens that anyone can visit Watching the VE Day commemorations made me consider a garden, which while being rejuvenated took on a deeper meaning – for lives lost in The Great War. It's on a hillside near Mevagissey in Cornwall and for decades it was lost, overgrown and forgotten. The Lost Gardens of Heligan now span over 200 acres with productive gardens, formal layouts, subtropical valleys and woods. But its story gives it such emotional weight. The Heligan estate belonged to the Tremayne family for more than 400 years. In the 18th and 19th centuries, successive generations developed it into a showpiece of Victorian horticulture. There were pineapple pits heated by horse dung, melons, espaliered fruit trees, and glasshouses believed to have been designed by Sir Joseph Paxton. At its peak, the estate employed 22 full-time gardeners but in August 1914, everything changed. Thirteen of those gardeners enlisted to fight in the war and only four returned. Before leaving, several of them signed their names on the wall of a small lavatory behind the greenhouses – now known as the Thunderbox Room – beneath the words: 'Don't come here to sleep or slumber'. It was an informal roll call, left behind when none of them knew if they would come back. With the workforce gone and post-war society shifting, Heligan entered a long period of decline. By the 1920s, the Tremayne family had moved, and the house was let to tenants. The gardens became wild. glasshouses collapsed, borders disappeared, and structures were swallowed by vegetation. That might have been the end of the story, if not for a chance encounter in the early 90s. Tim Smit, an archaeologist turned music producer, had moved to Cornwall. He met John Willis, a Tremayne descendant who had just inherited the land, and together they began exploring what remained. What they found stunned them. Under the overgrowth were walls of espaliered fruit trees, rusting tools hanging in place, and the Thunderbox Room, with the names still faintly visible. It was clear Heligan was more than a lost garden. It was a site of memory. And so began one of the largest garden restoration projects in Europe. The team had little to go on – no complete planting plans or working drawings –but they pieced things together from zinc plant labels and estate documents. They rebuilt the pineapple pits using horse manure as heat, restored heritage apple orchards, and replanted the walled vegetable gardens. Today, Heligan includes several distinct areas. The Sundial Garden is enclosed and packed with traditional perennials and heritage varieties. The Italian Garden, with its formal layout and lily pool, brings a more structured feel. The productive area – the kitchen gardens and melon yard – now supply the on-site cafe with seasonal produce. Plant of the week: Syringa 'Little Lady' The lilacs are beginning to bloom and release their intoxicating scent. While it's true they're not much to look at most of the year, they make up for it with their fragrant flowers. If you're a lilac lover but have limited space, here's a compact variety which grows to around 4-5ft in height and can be grown in a pot. The pale lilac flowers are fragrant and do best in full sunshine The Jungle is perhaps the most striking area. A deep valley with a subtropical microclimate, it is home to tree ferns, gunnera, bamboo, and palms. A raised boardwalk and rope bridge allow visitors to walk through the canopy. Further afield, visitors can walk through woodland to find sculptures like the Mud Maiden and the Giant's Head, or explore wildflower meadows and wildlife areas now part of Heligan's ecological mission. The estate has become a model for regenerative land management and low-impact horticulture. In 1997, a Channel 4 documentary and bestselling book by Tim Smit helped bring Heligan to national attention. What made the story compelling was the sense this was also a war memorial – a tribute to those who worked there. The Thunderbox Room is now officially recognised by the Imperial War Museum as a living memorial, and on Remembrance Sunday, the estate holds a moment of silence. Heligan receives over 300,000 visitors a year, but is grounded in its purpose: to honour the people who made the garden, and to keep their legacy growing. it is a working garden, where tools are used, produce is grown, and the past is deeply felt. It's a reminder that history doesn't always need a statue. Sometimes it's enough to bring something back to life.
Associated Press
14-05-2025
- Business
- Associated Press
Verde Valle Foods Acquires A Dozen Cousins
DALLAS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 14, 2025-- A Dozen Cousins, the brand specializing in ready-to-eat beans, rice and seasoning sauces inspired by traditional Creole, Caribbean, and Latin American recipes, is being acquired by Verde Valle Foods. With more than 16 years in the US, Verde Valle Foods manufactures, sells, and distributes rice and beans and is also home to Isadora, a pioneer in ready-to-eat beans and authentic Mexican meals and the first brand to introduce beans in a pouch. Ibraheem Basir, Founder and CEO of A Dozen Cousins, will continue as General Manager, leading the brand and its growth. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: 'I couldn't be more excited to partner with the team at Verde Valle,' said A Dozen Cousins Founder and CEO, Ibraheem Basir. 'They are trailblazers in the world of pouched meals, and they are going to dramatically strengthen the supply chain and make it easier to share our products with more people. At the same time, we will be able to invest more in innovation and marketing to continue building a brand that people love.' Verde Valle Foods is the US subsidiary of Verde Valle. Founded in 1967, Verde Valle is a third-generation family-owned and operated manufacturer of rice, beans, grains, ingredients, and ready-to-eat meals in a pouch. Verde Valle Foods, based in Dallas, Texas, is committed to fresh, high-quality, and authentic ingredients, which makes it a natural fit for A Dozen Cousins. Verde Valle Foods has been at the forefront of innovation in ready-to-eat meals for the last decade. A Dozen Cousins, launched in 2019, was born from the comforting, flavorful recipes Basir grew up eating with his family after he noticed a gap in the market for authentic cultural foods that were also nutritious. The brand's flagship seasoned beans have built a loyal following over the years, and their innovative line of rice cooked in bone broth recorded double-digit growth over the last year, while sales in the prepared rice category were flat during that same period. 'A Dozen Cousins fits right into our growth strategy for ready-to-eat meals in a pouch and will allow Verde Valle to further expand into the natural products segment,' said Germán Rosales, Jr., US CEO of Verde Valle Foods. 'We are thrilled to have Ibraheem join our business, we can't wait to work collaboratively and continue to bring delicious, natural products to consumers across the country.' Following the transaction, A Dozen Cousins will preserve its high ingredient standards, and consumers can expect exciting innovation coming in the next year. A Dozen Cousins' line of beans, bone broth rices, and seasoning sauces can be found at retailers nationwide including Whole Foods Market, Sprouts, Fresh Market, Publix, Meijer, Target, Walmart, Kroger, Thrive Market, Wegmans and more. To learn more, visit and follow @adozencousins. About A Dozen Cousins A Dozen Cousins offers a line of ready-to-eat products and seasoning sauces inspired by traditional Creole, Caribbean and Latin American recipes. Founded by Ibraheem Basir, A Dozen Cousins believes in the power of culture to make life richer and bring people together. The brand's unique products are made with wholesome, easy-to-recognize ingredients like beans, vegetables, and nutrient-dense avocado oil while avoiding GMOs and artificial flavors. A Dozen Cousins makes it possible to enjoy traditional foods without compromising taste, health or convenience. About Verde Valle Since 1967 Verde Valle has been dedicated to delighting consumers with healthy and nutritious beans, rice, and grains. The company selects the highest quality ingredients from the US, Mexico and the world to transform dishes into a delicious and authentic experience. Verde Valle's portfolio of leading brands includes Verde Valle, the #1 selling brand of rice and beans in Mexico, Isadora the #1 selling brand of beans in a pouch in Mexico and the fastest growing refried beans brand in the US in 2024. STS Rice All Products $ Sales Change = +0.4% ADC $ Sales Change = +16.0% View source version on CONTACT: Media Contact Power Digital [email protected] KEYWORD: UNITED STATES NORTH AMERICA TEXAS INDUSTRY KEYWORD: RETAIL SUPERMARKET AGRICULTURE SPECIALTY NATURAL RESOURCES FOOD/BEVERAGE SOURCE: A Dozen Cousins Copyright Business Wire 2025. PUB: 05/14/2025 10:00 AM/DISC: 05/14/2025 09:59 AM
