Which Legumes Are High in Iron?

Legumes are a complete food on which many people depend for nourishment, including nutrients such as iron, calcium, magnesium, and potassium.

Which legumes have the most iron?

For a more visual comparison of these five regularly consumed varieties of beans, see the table below:

NCCDB information (retrieved from Cronometer)

People have various needs for the quantity of iron they should take in their diet based on a variety of variables.

The RDA for iron is 8 mg per day for males of all ages and postmenopausal women, however premenopausal, menstruating women have a greater demand for dietary iron and the RDA for this group is around 18 mg per day.

A single cup of cooked lentils or raw peanuts would thus provide around 41% of the RDA for a male or post-menopausal woman, and 18% for a pre-menopausal woman.

While striving to improve your iron status, bear in mind that there are various variables that restrict iron absorption in legumes.

A research titled Bioavailability of minerals in legumes found that

Legumes have a high mineral content, but their bioavailability is low owing to the presence of phytate, which is a major inhibitor of Fe and Zn absorption.

Certain legumes also have high levels of Fe-binding polyphenols, which impede Fe absorption.

Nevertheless, phytate and iron-binding polyphenols may be lowered by soaking, heating at high temperatures (i.e., boiling or pressure cooking), and fermenting the beans.

It comes to reason that if phytate and polyphenols are sufficiently decreased, the iron in legumes will be better absorbed by the body.

According to the study’s findings,

Fe and Zn absorption from legume-based diets has been proven to be poor.

It has also been proven that dietary Fe deficiency is more prevalent in communities who consume cereals and legumes.

A high consumption of legumes, on the other hand, is not regarded a danger in terms of mineral supply in a balanced diet incorporating animal protein.

To acquire enough bioavailable iron in your diet, you’ll probably need to consume certain animal foods like red meat, organ meats like cow liver and spleen, mussels, and oysters.

Depending entirely on legumes or grains for nutrients will almost certainly make you deficient over time.

Another research looked at many various kinds of legumes, including soybeans, black beans, lentils, mung beans, and split peas, and found that just 0.84-1.91% of the iron in the legumes was absorbed by the body, even when the beans were cooked and fed as a soup.

The research concluded that these five regularly consumed legumes are all low in dietary iron.

Again, the message seems to be that you should not depend primarily on legumes for iron, but they are probably good to include in a balanced diet that also includes plenty of iron-rich animal foods.

For a more visual comparison of these six commonly consumed types of legumes, see the table below:

NCCDB information (retrieved from Cronometer)

This research shows how, like iron and other minerals, not all of the calcium found in legumes is absorbed by the body.

Many variables influence calcium bioavailability in the foods we consume.

For example, having dietary fat in your meal inhibits calcium absorption, but ingesting protein and phosphorus in your meal increases absorption.

Phytic acid, which is abundant in most legumes, reduces calcium absorption as well.

Since oxalic acid has the same effect, spinach is a poor calcium source (only approximately 5% of the calcium in spinach is absorbed).

Similar to soybeans, it is believed that 30-35% of the calcium in milk and milk products is absorbed.

The table below compares five different varieties of legumes and the amount of total carbohydrates and fiber they contain:

NCCDB information (retrieved from Cronometer)

This indicates that 7.5 grams of the 20.4 total grams of carbohydrates in a cup of black beans are fiber.

Fiber is a form of carbohydrate that is not completely digested but rather fermented by bacteria in the colon.

In practice, this slows down digestion and supposedly allows for a slower, more regulated release of glucose into your system.

This may not necessarily result in weight loss, but it will help with blood sugar balance and insulin sensitivity.

See the table below for a comparison of five distinct varieties of legumes, their total calories, and the proportion of those total calories that come from protein, carbohydrates, and fat:

NCCDB information (retrieved from Cronometer)

It is critical to consider the proportion of total calories that come from protein.

Protein, according to Dr. Ted Naiman, author of The P:E Diet, is primarily employed as a building block inside the body, and calories from pure protein do not contribute to dangerous weight gain.

Calories from carbohydrates and fat, on the other hand, are either used as energy by the body or stored as potential energy, making them more likely to contribute to fat accumulation if you consume in a caloric excess on a regular basis.

This suggests that if you want to lose weight, you should focus on reducing the calories from carbohydrates and fat rather than the calories from protein.

Lentils, for example, have a high protein content (27% of calories), but peanuts have a lower protein content.

So, peanuts are not only incredibly calorie dense (414 calories per cup serving), but the majority of those calories are non-protein calories.

This does not inherently result in weight gain; it is dependent on how many total calories you consume and how much you expend on a daily basis.

But, eating more protein and restricting calories from carbohydrates and fat will make it simpler to lose or maintain weight in the long term.

How much beans you may consume per day is determined by many variables, including your daily calorie demands, weight and body fat percentage, exercise levels, and the other items in your diet.

Depending on their objectives, everyone should eat a different number of calories (based on their weight and body fat percentage).

If you want to lose weight, for example, you must eat less calories than you expend.

In such scenario, you should go for legumes that are lower in total calories and higher in protein, such as lentils rather than peanuts.

Another factor to consider when deciding how much beans to consume is if you have any health issues that worsen when you eat legumes.

Certain chemicals in legumes, for example, may aggravate symptoms in patients with autoimmune illnesses.