The Bean Man

Slides presented during " The Diversity of end uses for Legumes"

Webinar 4: European legumes in transition 27th 2021

"The BEAN MAN – a dietary intervention on replacing red and processed meat with legume products in men"

The BEAN MAN dietary intervention study is a part of the multidisciplinary Leg4Life project. The project aims to increase the production and use of legumes both as animal feed and human food. Finnish men consume 760 g/wk of red meat on average, which is excessive in comparison to nutritional recommendations and EAT-Lancet commission’s Planetary Health Diet. The BEAN MAN study investigates the effects of replacing red meat with legumes on nutrient intake, food consumption, and risk factors of chronic diseases in healthy, working-age men. In autumn 2020, altogether 102 voluntary men were randomly allocated into two intervention groups for six weeks. The groups were provided with 25% of their protein intake by the study: one group was provided with 760 g of red meat per week, and the other group with 200 g/wk of red meat (providing 5% of protein intake) and legume-based products providing 20% of protein intake. Legume products were based on faba bean and pea. Before and at the end of the intervention period, blood, faecal and urine samples, as well as 4-day food records were collected to analyse changes in nutritional status, nutrient intake and biomarkers for cardiovascular diseases, type 2 diabetes, and colon cancer.

Presented by: Essi Päivärinta - University of Helsinki, Finland