What's The Nutritional Value of Lentils?
Lentils are one of the most consumed legumes. They have many benefits and properties for our health, so it’s advisable to include them in our diets. We can eat them in the form of a stew or a salad since their possibilities are abundant. Up next, we’re going to tell you about the nutritional value of lentils.
Understand the importance of lentils and start eating them more frequently. Keep in mind that legumes are a very complete source of food from a nutrient standpoint. This is why they’re associated with good health conditions.
The nutritional value of lentils
Every 100 grams of lentils contain the following nutrients:
- 116 calories.
- 0.4 grams of fat.
- 20 grams of carbohydrates.
- 1.8 grams of sugars.
- 9 grams of protein.
- 2 milligrams of sodium.
- 369 milligrams of potassium.
- 8 IU(international unit) of vitamin A.
- 1.5 milligrams of vitamin C.
- 19 milligrams of calcium.
- 3.3 milligrams of iron.
- 36 milligrams of magnesium.
As you can see, we’re talking about a plant that contains few calories. This allows it to be part of any diet, even if the goal is weight loss. Thanks to this, lentils will help you improve your body composition within the framework of a healthy diet.
Benefits and nutritional value of lentils
The consumption of lentils has several health benefits that we’re going to discuss, as well as the scientific point of view in this regard.
They generate satiety
Thanks to the contribution of fiber and protein, lentils are able to increase the feeling of satiety. For this reason, it’s ideal to include them in a hypocaloric diet.
These legumes will help to reduce your appetite. Hence, they lower the risk of snacking in between meals; normally characterized by the presence of unhealthy foods.
Reduces the risk of anemia
It’s a fact that vegetable iron isn’t the most bioavailable. However, it’s a good complement to the diet. Its presence can help reduce the risk of anemia, according to a study published in the journal Food & Function.
It’s best to add some other food with high amounts of vitamin C to the same meal. This will enhance the absorption of the mineral. Pepper is a good example.
Improve muscle health: nutritional value of lentils
Legumes stand out for their protein content, and lentils aren’t an exception. These are proteins of plant origin, which lack methionine.
For this reason, it’s necessary to combine these foods with other products to generate a complete protein intake without amino acid deficiencies. Moreover, it’s a combination that can help complete our daily requirements.
Reduce the risk of getting sick
According to research published in the International Journal of Molecular Sciences, lentils have several types of polyphenols in their composition These compounds stand out for their antioxidant properties, which reduces the risk of developing chronic and complex pathologies as time goes by. An example of these illnesses would be cardiovascular diseases or cancer.
It’s convenient to combine these foods with other vegetables that have a high concentration of these compounds. This will maximize its effects and balance the redox potential and systemic inflammation. Thus, it’ll generate beneficial effects.
Bear in mind that the accumulation of free radicals that derive from our metabolism is one of the most frequent causes of cellular mutations that lead to the appearance of diseases.
Nutritional value of lentils: include lentils in your diet!
As we mentioned, lentils are legumes that have a very complete supply of nutrients. Hence, you should include them frequently in your diet to avoid suffering deficits. The good news is that they’re versatile, so you can prepare a wide variety of different dishes with them.
As you surely know, frequent vegetable intake is associated with good health; lentils belong to this group. However, we shouldn’t restrict ourselves to only eating vegetables. It’s important to ensure our diets have variety.
This way, we’ll consume various types of polyphenols with antioxidant effects, which will modulate our body’s levels of inflammation. This will help prevent the appearance of cardiovascular health risks and other dangerous pathologies.
Lastly, don’t forget that legumes have a high amount of fiber, so they’ll also help improve your intestinal transit. Due to this property, the frequency of constipation, as well as its symptoms, will reduce.
All cited sources were thoroughly reviewed by our team to ensure their quality, reliability, currency, and validity. The bibliography of this article was considered reliable and of academic or scientific accuracy.
- Evcan E., Gulec S., The development of lentil derived protein iron complexes and their effects on iron deficiency anemia in vitro. Food Funct, 2020. 11 (5): 4185-4192.
- Ganesan K., Xu B., Polyphenol rich lentils and their health promoting effects. Int J Mol Sci, 2017.