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. 2024 May 9;16(10):1435.
doi: 10.3390/nu16101435.

Pulse Consumption and Health Outcomes: A Scoping Review

Naisi Zhao  1 , Keyi Jiao  1   2 , Yu-Hsiang Chiu  1 , Taylor C Wallace  3   4   5
Affiliations

Pulse Consumption and Health Outcomes: A Scoping Review

Naisi Zhao et al. Nutrients. .

Abstract

Pulses-comprising the dry, edible seeds of leguminous plants-have long been lauded for their culinary flexibility and substantial nutritional advantages. This scoping review aimed to map the evidence on how pulses contribute to overall human health. Four electronic databases were searched for clinical and observational studies in English. We identified 30 articles (3 cross-sectional studies, 1 federated meta-analysis, 8 prospective cohort studies, 1 before-and-after study, and 17 randomized controlled trials) that met our inclusion criteria. Predominant among the pulses studied were lentils, chickpeas, common bean varieties (e.g., pinto, black, navy, red, kidney), black-eyed peas, cowpeas, and split peas. Consumption modalities varied; most studies examined mixed pulses, while five isolated individual types. In intervention studies, pulses were incorporated into diets by allotting a fixed pulse serving on top of a regular diet or by substituting red meat with pulses, offering a comparative analysis of dietary effects. The health outcomes evaluated were multifaceted, ranging from lipid profiles to blood pressure, cardiovascular disease risk and mortality, type 2 diabetes and glycemic control, metabolic syndrome indicators, inflammatory markers, oxidative stress biomarkers, and hormonal profiles. The most frequently assessed study outcomes included changes in low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, fasting blood sugar, hemoglobin A1c, waist circumference, and C-reactive protein or high-sensitivity C-reactive protein. This review should serve as a call to action for the scientific community to build upon the existing evidence, enriching our understanding of the nutritional and health-promoting attributes of pulses.

Keywords: Fabaceae; edible grain; plant proteins; pulse; seeds.

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Conflict of interest statement

Authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships (other than the funding stated above) that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Literature search and study selection processes (PRISMA flowchart).
Figure 2
Figure 2
Bubble plot of health outcome categories by study design. Every bubble corresponds to an individual study, with the bubble’s dimension reflecting the number of participants in that study. Abbreviations: CVD, cardiovascular disease; T2DM, type 2 diabetes mellitus.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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