Sweet potatoes, konjac, soybeans, and mung beans: A detailed explanation of the lipid-lowering effects of six kinds of whole grains and beans.

sweet potato

Sweet potatoes are neutral in nature and sweet in taste, and have the effects of tonifying the spleen and stomach, detoxifying and reducing swelling. Sweet potatoes can provide the human body with a mixture of polysaccharides and proteins, which can maintain the elasticity of human arteries. Therefore, eating sweet potatoes regularly can prevent fat deposition in the cardiovascular system, prevent arteriosclerosis, reduce subcutaneous fat, and avoid excessive obesity.

It can neutralize the acid produced in the body from excessive consumption of meat and eggs, maintaining the acid-base balance of the blood plasma. Sweet potatoes contain a lot of fiber, which can absorb more water in the gastrointestinal tract, lubricate the digestive tract, promote bowel movements, and expel excess fat, carbohydrates, and toxins from the intestines, thus lowering blood lipids.

Konjac

It is cold in nature, pungent in taste, and poisonous. It has the effects of resolving phlegm and dispersing stagnation, promoting blood circulation and reducing swelling, detoxifying and fighting cancer. It is suitable for cough, food stagnation, malaria, amenorrhea, traumatic injuries, carbuncles, boils, erysipelas, burns, cervical lymph node tuberculosis, snake bites, tumors, etc.

Modern research shows that glucomannan in konjac has the property of absorbing water and swelling, so eating just a small amount of konjac can make a person feel full. Glucomannan can inhibit the absorption of excess cholesterol from the diet, thus preventing cardiovascular disease and reducing the potential harm of arteriosclerosis and high blood pressure.

West China Medical University conducted a study on the effects of konjac food on lipid metabolism and found that after eating konjac food for 45 days, serum triglycerides and cholesterol levels in people with hyperlipidemia decreased significantly, while high-density lipoprotein increased.

Experiments have shown that konjac flour and alginate have anti-fatty liver effects, with konjac flour showing a more significant effect.

According to foreign reports, the mechanism of action of konjac polysaccharide in preventing fatty liver may be related to the fact that after cholesterol is metabolized by the liver, some of it is converted into bile acids. After the bile acids are excreted into the intestine, they are adsorbed by konjac polysaccharide, which reduces the amount of cholesterol entering the liver in the cholesterol cycle.

In vitro experiments have shown that konjac polysaccharide can effectively inhibit the active absorption and transport of bile acids by the ileum and colonic mucosa. It is speculated that the cholesterol-lowering mechanism of konjac polysaccharide is the result of partially blocking the enterohepatic circulation of bile acids and increasing the excretion of fecal cholesterol.

The entire konjac plant is poisonous, with the root and stem being the most toxic. Therefore, it must be processed before consumption and should not be eaten in large quantities.

soybeans

It is neutral in nature and sweet in taste, and has the effects of invigorating qi and nourishing blood, strengthening the spleen and regulating the middle jiao, and moistening dryness and eliminating water retention. It is suitable for symptoms such as qi and blood deficiency, infantile malnutrition and diarrhea, indigestion, and difficulty urinating.

Modern research shows that soybeans contain 18% to 20% fat, with 85% being unsaturated fatty acids, and an average of 50.8% being linoleic acid, which is essential for the human body.

Soybean oil has a digestibility rate of up to 97.5% in the human body and can prevent cholesterol from depositing in blood vessels and prevent atherosclerosis.

In particular, soybean fat contains 1.8% to 3.2% phospholipids, which can lower blood cholesterol levels and blood viscosity, promote fat absorption, and help prevent fatty liver and control weight, among other functions.

Studies have shown that soybean saponins contained in soybean residue and soybean hulls have many beneficial physiological functions, such as promoting cholesterol and fat metabolism in the human body, reducing the production of lipid peroxides, inhibiting pathological thyroid enlargement, and having antitussive, anti-inflammatory, and immune-enhancing effects.

Soy saponins are of great significance for protecting the liver, improving liver metabolism, maintaining cardiovascular function, and enhancing vitality.

The saponin content in soybean residue after defatting is approximately 0.6%, while the saponin content in soybean germ can reach about 5% 50 days after flowering. Extracting soybean saponins at this stage will yield more pure soybean saponins.

green beans

It is cold in nature and sweet in taste, and has the effects of clearing heat and detoxifying, reducing swelling and relieving itching, astringing and promoting tissue regeneration, relieving summer heat, quenching thirst and promoting urination, and improving eyesight and clearing away corneal opacity. It is suitable for heatstroke, thirst and fever, damp-heat diarrhea, carbuncles, mumps, erysipelas, smallpox, drug and food poisoning, blurred vision, hyperlipidemia, etc.

Modern research shows that mung beans have effects such as lowering cholesterol, reducing blood lipids, detoxifying, and protecting the liver. Mung beans contain a globulin and polysaccharide component that can promote the breakdown of cholesterol into bile acids in the liver of animals, accelerate the excretion of bile acids in bile, and reduce the absorption of cholesterol in the small intestine.

The polysaccharide components in mung beans can also enhance the activity of serum lipoprotein lipase, hydrolyze triglycerides in lipoproteins, thereby lowering blood lipids and preventing fatty liver, hyperlipidemia, coronary heart disease, and angina pectoris.

In animal experiments, mung bean powder effectively reduced serum cholesterol, triglycerides, and low-density lipoprotein in rabbits with hyperlipidemia, and significantly alleviated coronary atherosclerosis. Clinical observations found that patients with hyperlipidemia who consumed 50 grams of mung beans daily experienced a 70% reduction in serum cholesterol.

Red beans

Slightly cold in nature and sweet in taste, adzuki beans have diuretic, dampness-removing, swelling-reducing, and detoxifying effects. Modern research shows that adzuki beans are low in calories, high in dietary fiber, and rich in vitamin E and active ingredients such as potassium, magnesium, phosphorus, zinc, and selenium. They are a typical high-potassium food and have the effects of lowering blood sugar, blood pressure, and blood lipids.

Red beans are an ideal food for lowering blood sugar in diabetic patients. Regularly consuming red bean products in moderation can not only lower blood sugar, but also help prevent and treat obesity, hyperlipidemia, and essential hypertension.

garlic

It is warm in nature and pungent in taste. It has the effects of killing insects and removing dampness, warming the middle and promoting digestion, aiding digestion and relieving food stagnation, detoxifying, breaking up stagnant blood, and attacking cold accumulation.

Modern research shows that garlic is rich in volatile pungent compounds, which can clear fat accumulated in blood vessels and inhibit cholesterol synthesis. Garlic essential oil has a significant effect on lowering blood lipids, preventing thrombosis, and helping to increase high-density lipoprotein levels.

Researchers treated 30 patients with coronary heart disease with garlic. After 8 months, the patients' blood cholesterol and triglyceride levels decreased significantly, while the levels of high-density lipoprotein, which is beneficial to health, increased, thus greatly reducing the risk of coronary heart disease attacks.

Alliin and cycloalliin in garlic are the effective components for its lipid-lowering effect. Patients with coronary heart disease who take garlic oil for 5 months may experience a 10% reduction in cholesterol and a 21% reduction in triglycerides.

Experiments have shown that feeding mice an oily diet for a period of time causes a sharp increase in cholesterol levels in their blood and liver. However, adding a little minced garlic to the oily diet stops the increase in cholesterol levels.

Garlic has the function of inhibiting fat accumulation, and regular consumption of garlic can help with weight loss.

Research reports indicate that aged garlic is more effective at preventing the increase in total plasma cholesterol levels in rabbits caused by a high-cholesterol diet, while fresh garlic can significantly reduce fat synthesis in the liver and delay the onset of fatty liver. However, excessive garlic consumption can damage the gastric mucosa, causing gastritis, ulcers, and even gastric bleeding.

onion

It is warm in nature and pungent in taste, and has the effects of warming the lungs and resolving phlegm, detoxifying and killing parasites. It is suitable for coronary heart disease, primary hypertension, diabetes, hyperlipidemia, abdominal pain due to cold, and indigestion.

Modern research shows that onions contain an essential oil that can lower cholesterol in patients with hyperlipidemia and fatty liver, and increase the activity of fibrinolytic enzymes in these patients, which is very beneficial for improving atherosclerosis.

Healthy men who take 60 grams of cooked onions orally can inhibit the increase in plasma cholesterol levels caused by a high-fat diet.

In addition, onions contain diallyl sulfide, allyl disulfide, sulfur amino acids, alliin, etc., which can lower cholesterol, liver lipids, and blood lipids.

Onions have a good effect on lowering blood sugar, can inhibit the rise in blood cholesterol caused by a high-fat diet, and can prevent the decrease of alpha lipoprotein.

Onions can enhance fibrinolytic activity and dissolve blood clots, thereby slowing down or preventing the formation of atherosclerosis. Middle-aged and elderly people who eat more onions can prevent the occurrence and development of hyperlipidemia, arteriosclerosis, cerebral thrombosis, and coronary heart disease.