In recent years, a large number of split beans have been consumed by South Americans as their national staple diet. The nutritious food value of dried beans is considered extremely beneficial by many health advocates around the world. Recent scientific studies have revealed a great deal of nutrition and health benefits of the nutritious food. The dried and unprocessed (raw & dried) legumes of two geographically diverse sand dunes of India were studied for bioactive compounds (vitamin C, total antioxidant activity, tannin and phytochemical contents), which are believed to be accountable for some of the disease-related benefits in humans. The studies have provided evidence that the dried and unprocessed dried legumes from India contain more bioactive phenolic compounds than do the fresh bean varieties.
The dried and unprocessed legume varieties from the coastal region of India comprised 42% of the total dry bean samples analyzed, including the popular Mungbean, Kebab and Barley varieties. The dried and unprocessed legume varieties from the eastern India comprised the following: Akkar, Birayani, Bumari, Bugar, Chana, Gujar, Hindii, Marich, Nainital, Pathani, Purna, Sangan, Shimla, Sindhudha and Vagamon. The dry bean samples from the western region comprised the following: Bulbul, Bulldoja, Gujar, Kadhai, Laddu, Marich, Nabhtha, Samudradi, Suran and Vasa. The health and nutritional value of each of the dry bean products was evaluated using the biochemical methodology described previously.
Interestingly, we also detected two synonyms for this legume family, which are “Punubia granatum” and “Hemidesmus indicus”. Based on the English/ Hindi synonyms, we can transitively replace each word with its English synonym, which would then be translated as “red seedling” or “wet-leg”. Although the English word for Punubia granatum is not found in the dictionary, we detected the word “granatum” appearing ten times in the seven publications that contained dry beans and legumes. Therefore, the synonyms “red-skinned” and “seedling” would translate to “red seedling” and “seedlings” respectively.
In addition to being red in color, the dried beans from India also have a red or orange color appearance, as indicated by the color spectrum (from red to orange). Interestingly, the scientists detected the presence of three vitamin C derivatives (ascorbic acid, carotenoids, and flavonoids) in the dried beans. The presence of vitamin C derivatives is interesting since vitamin C is known to stimulate the immune system and is considered to be an antioxidant. This vitamin also has many benefits, such as improving cardiovascular health and possibly lowering the risk of cancer. Therefore, consuming vitamin C might have some health benefits when consumed together with vitamin A, which has been proven to be an antioxidant in animal studies.
The researchers confirmed that the combination of vitamin C with taurine resulted in higher levels of free radical molecules, which in turn caused the oxidative damage of DNA. As a result of this damage, the researchers found that the expression level of an inflammatory gene called NF-kB was increased. Interestingly, the scientists were able to demonstrate that this gene is activated by the presence of a large number of uncharacteristically increased inflammatory genes. The researchers conclude that the NF-kB gene may be used as a model to study the relationship between inflammation and vitamin C. They suggest that future research should focus on examining the relationship between NF-kB activation and vitamin C and NF-kB in relation to other immune diseases, as well as cancer. The discovery that vitamin C can stimulate NF-kB may hold the key to developing new methods to prevent cancers of all types.
In conclusion, the present research provides evidence that vitamin C and NF-kB can work together in promoting the growth and maintenance of good health. The study also showed that the antioxidant effects of vitamin C are independent of the antioxidant effects of taurine. This provides strong evidence that drinking water with split bean flour reduced cancer risk. Further studies are needed to confirm whether or not NF-kB and vitamin C work in synergy to prevent cancer, or whether vitamin C alone is enough to reduce cancer risk. For now, we can safely say that NF-kB is a necessary part of a healthy diet, but we must continue to monitor our health to ensure that we don’t cause ourselves too many health problems.