Are Mung Beans Good for You and Can You Eat Them Daily?

Mung beans are popular as fresh salads and cooked as lentils or soup. Mung beans are good because they supply protein and fiber and they protect the liver and you can eat them daily.

Mung beans are popular as fresh salads and cooked as lentils or soup in India, China, and Southeast Asia. Mung beans are rich in proteins, vitamins, minerals, fiber, oligosaccharides, and polyphenols. They contribute to this valuable food's antioxidant, antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, and antitumor activities. Mung beans are also beneficial in the regulation of lipid metabolism.

Mung beans are available in the US at health food outlets. Regular consumption of these beans provides many health benefits. 

Mung beans (scientific name Vigna radiata) are small green beans. They're warm-weather legumes native to Asia but are climatically resilient. They are easy to grow in the US and benefit farmers by improving soil health when used in crop rotations.

Mung beans have been a popular food in Asia for over 2,000 years. Apart from nutrition, mung beans are also used traditionally for medicinal purposes. Mung bean preparations are beneficial for all of the following: mental refreshing, relieving swelling in summer, reversing heat stroke, moisturizing the skin, and managing gastrointestinal upset.

Mung beans are legumes and have excellent nutritional value. A 100-gram portion provides:

• Protein: 24 grams
• Energy: 340 calories
• Total lipid (fat): 1 gram
• Saturated fat: 0 grams
• Cholesterol: 0 grams
• Carbohydrate: 62 grams
• Dietary fiber: 16 grams
• Minerals: iron, calcium, potassium, and sodium
• Vitamins: vitamin C, folate (vitamin B9), and others

Mung beans are a rich source of protein, providing 24 grams of protein per 100-gram portion, which is as much as soybean and kidney beans and about twice as much as maize.

Like many plant proteins, mung bean proteins are not complete proteins. They do not contain all the essential amino acids the human body needs for protein synthesis, lacking the amino acids methionine and cysteine. However, the amino acids arginine, lysine, phenylalanine, leucine, isoleucine, and valine are present.

Methionine is an essential amino acid. It cannot be synthesized in the body and must be present in the diet. However, this is not a concern as long as you are eating a variety of plant-based proteins. Eating a balanced diet with proteins from many sources will give you all the essential amino acids your body needs.

Mung bean proteins, when digested, release sequences of amino acids called peptides. These peptides may also have biological activities like inhibiting angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE), antioxidant properties, and anticancer activities.

Consuming part of your protein requirement as plant protein is healthy. But all vegetarian protein isn't healthy. Some protein foods like vegetable curries and cheesy pasta are high in fat, salt, and calories. Mock meat dishes like veggie burgers and nuggets also contain large amounts of salt. A mung bean salad or stir fry is a healthy way to get some of your protein requirements.

Mung beans are also rich in dietary fiber. A 100-gram portion of these beans contains as much as 16 grams of fiber. Fiber helps the motility of the intestines and in eliminating waste. Dietary fiber also reduces your risk of:

• Coronary heart disease
• Obesity
• Hypertension (high blood pressure)
• Stroke

Increasing the amount of dietary fiber can help manage gastrointestinal disorders. Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), duodenal ulcer, diverticulitis, hemorrhoids, and constipation improve with increased fiber intake. Dietary fiber in your diet aids the reduction of blood levels of cholesterol and lipoproteins.

Toxins in the diet, alcohol, viruses, and auto-immune diseases often damage the liver. Mung beans and germinated mung beans both protect the liver from such damage. Liver appearance under the microscope improves with mung bean consumption. Liver enzymes levels, which rise with liver damage, also decrease with mung bean ingestion.

Mung beans water extract (MWE) prepared using boiling water is a traditional method of preparing mung beans for consumption. This extract contains vitexin, isovitexin, and other substances that affect glucose metabolism through insulin signaling. MWE increases glucose uptake by cells and alters the expression of genes involved in glucose metabolism. Insulin resistance in cells is also reduced.

About 90% of people with diabetes have type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), and insulin resistance is common. By increasing insulin sensitivity and glucose uptake, MWE has the potential to aid in the management of diabetes. Boiling water extraction is used in traditional cooking to make mung bean soup. Since preparing MWE uses no organic solvent, it is safe for long-term use.

Mung beans, fermented or non-fermented, reduce the blood glucose levels in hyperglycemia (high blood glucose). But they do not cause hypoglycemia, a danger of many anti-diabetic drugs.

Mung beans also contain a lot of fiber and polysaccharides. These prevent a rapid rise in blood glucose level after a meal by slowing the absorption of sugar. Such foods reduce the occurrence of diabetes as well as obesity.

Disorders of fat metabolism and raised blood levels of cholesterol and lipoproteins are known to cause heart disease and hypertension. Legumes contain dietary fiber and phytosterol that help the body regulate cholesterol production and absorption. Regular consumption of mung beans reduces your blood levels of total cholesterol, triglycerides, and lipoproteins. These actions protect you against heart disease.

Mung beans can make an excellent snack or part of a meal during your weight loss effort. These beans are rich in protein, the most satisfying of the macronutrients. Eating a snack or meal with concentrated protein will keep you from feeling hungry for longer than a snack with fats and carbohydrates. 

High-protein diets are a valuable strategy for weight loss. They provide satiety and help you stay with your diet plan. Because 25% of total daily calories are protein, they prevent muscle breakdown and help maintain strength as you lose weight. 

Mung beans contain trypsin inhibitors, hemagglutinin, tannins, and phytic acid. These compounds improve digestion and aid in eliminating toxins.

Regularly eating mung beans can influence your gut bacteria and reduce the absorption of toxins.

Legumes have several bioactive compounds with potent health benefits. Mung beans have several antioxidants, including the following: oligosaccharides, polysaccharides, polypeptides, flavonoids, phenolic acids, organic acids, sterols, and aldehydes. These compounds help the body overcome oxidative stress. 

Food-derived antioxidants are valuable for their role in defense against free radical compounds known as reactive nitrogen species (RNS) and reactive oxygen species (ROS). Unopposed, these free radicals damage cellular nucleic acids, lipids, and proteins. Such cellular damage can cause cardiovascular disorders like hypertension and atherosclerosis, diabetes mellitus, Parkinson's disease, multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis, and cancers. 

The antioxidants in mung beans are efficient free radical scavengers. These beans are an excellent source of dietary antioxidants and protection from degenerative diseases.

Mung beans have been used as food and medicine in Asia for thousands of years. Herbalists use them to treat heat stroke, aches, inflammation, and hypertension. Indian healers use mung bean seeds to treat cough, paralysis, rheumatism, fever, and nervous system disorders.

Mung beans have several other biological activities, such as angiotensin I-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibition, reducing lipid accumulation, and lowering inflammation. ACE inhibition plays a crucial role in reducing blood pressure. 

Mung beans contain polyphenols, vitexin, isovitexin, flavonoids, gallic acid, and organic acids. These bioactive compounds reduce the activity of inflammatory cells like macrophages without killing them. Mung beans relieve the pain and swelling of arthritis. 

Other antiinflammatory substances in mung beans are phytochemicals, polyphenols, and oligosaccharides. These compounds protect you against chronic inflammation, heart disease, and some cancers.

Sprouting mung beans makes them easier to consume as components of fresh salads. Germination also has the following actions on portions of these beans:

• Some of the proteins undergo proteolytic cleavage. Amino acid levels are higher in sprouted mung beans.
• Reducing sugars and starches are reduced. Sucrose, raffinose, and stachyose are reduced or removed during germination.
• Organic acids increase during germination, especially citric acid, lactic acid, and phosphoric acid.
• Phenolic acids appear in increasing amounts during the germination process.
• Germination enhances the antioxidant and anti-inflammatory abilities of mung beans.

Germinated mung beans are richer in both nutrients and health-enhancing compounds. Daily consumption of them will help maintain your gut microbial flora, reduce your risk for obesity, hypercholesterolemia, diabetes, and cancer, and diminish the absorption of toxins in your food.

Diets with a lot of meat increase your risk of cancer, heart disease, and diabetes. Eating more plant-based food is a strategy to improve your long-term health. A healthy diet should provide your protein requirement from a variety of sources such as legumes (beans and peas), lean meats, poultry, nuts, seeds, seafood, and eggs.

With many biological benefits, mung beans are protein-rich legumes that can help improve your health. You can consume them cooked or sprouted. You can also make a soup of mung beans. They can be milled, ground into flour, and used for baking. Mung bean sprouts are added to fresh salads and stir-fries to increase their nutritional value. With a slightly sweet taste, they pair well with most other ingredients.

Mung beans are a healthy, nutritional, and delicious food for improving your diet and long-term health.