Beans are one of the longest-cultivated plants. The common bean has been grown for about six thousand years in the Americas.

World War II increased the demand for beans, as they became a staple in the C-rations used by US servicemen around the world. After the war, as the USs food relief efforts around the world intensified, so did dry bean production.

 

Diets Including Beans May Reduce Your Risk of Heart Disease and Certain Cancers

What food is high in protein, virtually fat free and has more fiber than many whole grain foods? It’s beans! And now a new U.S. dietary guidance message says that diets including beans may reduce your risk of heart disease and certain cancers.

Dietary guidance messages of Beans are part of an effort by the FDA’s Consumer Health Information for Better Nutrition Initiative (CHIBNI) to encourage good nutrition among consumers in multiple ways, including promoting and enhancing dietary guidance messages on food labels.Beans Dietary guidance messages are an opportunity to communicate with consumers and remind them about important health and nutrition information.

The new dietary guidance message about beans comes on the heels of the 2005 USDA Dietary Guidelines for Americans, which recommend Americans eat more than three times the amount they currently consume – three cups of beans per week.

Beans, such as Kidney beans, Pinto beans, Navy beans and Black beans, are naturally low in total fat, contain no saturated fat or cholesterol, and provide important nutrients such as fiber, protein, calcium, iron, folic acid and potassium. Beans health benefits are consistent with many existing FDA-approved health claims, specifically those related to heart disease and cancer. In addition to health benefits related to heart disease and cancer, studies also suggest eating beans as part of a healthy diet may help to manage diabetes and help cut the risk of high blood pressure and stroke.

The other dietary guidance message used by the food industry is: diets rich in fruits and vegetables may reduce the risk of some types of cancer and other chronic diseases.

Diets Including Beans May Reduce Your Risk of Heart Disease and Certain Cancers

 

From the royal tombs of ancient Egypt to the Old Testament cultivation, preparation, and consumption of beans are recognized. In some Eastern cultures, legumes were a basic dietary staple that can be traced back more than 20,000 years. The lima and pinto bean were cultivated for the first time in the very earliest Mexican and Peruvian civilizations more than 5,000 years ago, being popular in both the Aztec and Inca cultures.


The United States is by far the world leader in dry bean production. Each year, U.S. farmers plant from 1.5 to 1.7 million acres of edible dry beans. And while Americans are the chief consumers of these beans, 40 percent are shipped to international markets in more than 100 different countries around the globe.

‘The Anatomy of Melancholy’ by Robert Burton (1621) listed 64 remedies for gas produced from eating beans.

Alaska Strawberries: A facetious nineteenth-century American euphemism for 'dried beans', an ingredient in need of some talking up to make it palatable.