Garbanzo Beans Nutrition Facts

Peas, beans, lentils, lupins, peanuts are all common grain legumes. Seeds of legumes grow in pods. If you check a legumes list and eating habits of people in different parts of the world, you will find that garbanzo beans are one of the most popular beans. These beans are also known as chickpeas or Indian peas or Bengal gram. They belong to the family Fabaceae, and subfamily Faboideae.

Garbanzo Beans

Beans are one of the earliest cultivated vegetables and there exist numerous types of beans. These days, they are available as fresh, dried, canned products all over the world. Garbanzo beans are available throughout the year and they have a delicious nut like taste and buttery texture. They are an invariable part of spicy but tasty Middle Eastern and Indian dishes such as hummus, falafels and curries. These beans come in various colors such as beige, black, green, red and brown.

Nutrition Facts
One cup or about 165 g of garbanzo beans (mature seeds, cooked, boiled, without salt) contain:

• Calories: 270 kcal
• Total carbohydrate: 45 g
• Dietary fiber: 12.5 g
• Sugar: 8g
• Protein: 14.5 g
• Saturated fat: 0.4 g
• Monounsaturated fat: 1.0 g
• Polyunsaturated fat: 1.9 g
• Total fat: 4.2 g
• Total Omega-3 fatty acids: 70.5 mg
• Total Omega-6 fatty acids: 1825 mg
• Vitamin A: 44.3 IU
• Vitamin C: 2.1 mg
• Vitamin E: 0.6 mg
• Vitamin K: 6.6 mcg
• Thiamine: 0.2 mg
• Niacin: 0.9 mg
• Riboflavin: 0.1 mg
• Vitamin B6: 0.2 mg
• Folate: 282 mcg
• Pantothenic acid: 0.5 mg
• Choline: 70.2 mg
• Calcium: 80.4 mg
• Magnesium: 78.7 mg
• Phosphorus: 276 mg
• Potassium: 477 mg
• Iron: 4.7 mg
• Sodium: 11.5 mg
• Copper: 0.6 mg
• Zinc: 2.5 mg
• Selenium: 6.1 mcg
• Manganese: 1.7 mg
• Cholesterol: 0.0 mg
• Water: 98.7 g
• Ash: 1.5 g

If you throw a glance at garbanzo beans calories, you will notice that the beans are rich in calories. They are packed with proteins, carbohydrates, dietary fiber, various vitamins and minerals. They are low in sugar, sodium and fat. They do not contain cholesterol. Canned garbanzo beans nutrition facts are same as nutrition facts of homemade garbanzo beans. Let us now take a look at how these nutrients help maintain good health.

Health Benefits
Like most other beans, garbanzo beans are a good source of cholesterol-lowering fiber. These beans are good for diabetic patients as they are rich in dietary fiber and help prevent blood sugar levels from rising too rapidly after a meal. The soluble and insoluble dietary fiber helps improve your digestive health. If you consume these beans, combining with whole grains like rice, they provide fat-free high quality protein.

Beans nutrition facts tell us that garbanzos are rich in the trace mineral, molybdenum, an integral component of the enzyme sulfite oxidase, which is responsible for detoxifying sulfites. Sulfites are a type of preservative that are commonly present in foods like delicatessen salads and salad bars. If you are sensitive to sulfites, you may experience rapid heartbeat, headache or disorientation. Reaction to sulfites occurs if your molybdenum stores are insufficient to detoxify them.

When data related to higher consumption of dairy products in Northern Europe, higher consumption of meat in the U.S., higher consumption of vegetables, legumes, fish, and wine in Southern Europe, and higher consumption of cereals, soy products, and fish in Japan was studied, compared and analyzed in relation to the risk of death from heart disease, it was noticed that legumes were associated with a whopping 82% reduction in risk! Garbanzo beans help lower the risk of heart diseases and heart attack as they help lower both total and LDL (bad) cholesterol.

The significant quantities of folate and magnesium also help lower the risk of heart diseases. Just one cup of cooked garbanzo beans provides 70.5% of the daily value (DV) for folate. Magnesium helps lessen resistance and improve the flow of blood, oxygen and nutrients throughout the body.

As mentioned above, the soluble fibers help stabilize blood sugar levels. Moreover, garbanzos promote slow burning of complex carbohydrates and they are capable of increasing your energy by replenishing your iron stores. The high protein content helps boost your energy levels. Pregnant and lactating women need more iron and more protein, which they can easily obtain from garbanzo beans.

Manganese helps in energy production and in antioxidant defenses. Garbanzos contain flavonoids, which work as the female hormone estrogen and help relieve menopause symptoms, such as hot flashes.

Low fat legumes are good substitutes for meat or animal products which are known to be high fat food products. I hope you found the above information beneficial. So, start consuming legumes and grains regularly.