Grains & legumes

The cheapest route to fibre and plant protein.

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What this category is strong in

The nutrients most often listed as a key nutrient among these ingredients.

Grains & legumes

Strong evidence

Psyllium

A 2018 meta-analysis pooling 28 randomised controlled trials and 1,924 people found LDL cholesterol fell by 0.33 mmol/L on average. Non-HDL cholesterol and apolipoprotein B fell with it. This is one of the few entries this site marks as established.

Grains & legumes

Strong evidence

Red yeast rice

A 2015 meta-analysis of 20 trials found LDL fell by 1.02 mmol/L, and the effect was statistically indistinguishable from statin therapy. The same paper's title continues: but safety is uncertain.

Grains & legumes

Early research

Amaranth

A 16-week trial in Kenya. The porridge with amaranth carried 5.6 times the iron of the control. Neither hemoglobin nor iron status moved. In the same trial, a micronutrient powder giving far less iron did reduce anemia.

Grains & legumes

Early research

Cheonggukjang

In the 2025 menopause trial, symptom scores fell in all three groups. That sounds like good news until you see that all three groups ate cheonggukjang. Without a placebo arm, there is no way to separate the improvement from time and expectation.

Grains & legumes

Early research

Doenjang

A 12-week double-blind randomised trial found visceral fat fell — only in people carrying the T allele of PPAR-γ2. And in the same trial, insulin and HOMA-IR rose. Meanwhile, the biggest number on doenjang's label is sodium.

Grains & legumes

Early research

Soy milk

In a 2026 network meta-analysis, replacing 500 mL of cow milk with soy drink lowered systolic pressure by 8.23 mmHg — about what a single blood-pressure tablet does. But the same paper's overall verdict is that "few differences were observed", and that number is graded low certainty.

Grains & legumes

Moderate evidence

Adzuki bean

Meta-analyses of trials feeding people around 130 g of pulses a day found LDL falling. But in Korea adzuki mostly arrives with sugar — shaved ice, sweet buns, porridge. The 622 µg of folate and 12.7 g of fibre per 100 g dry are real; sweetened paste is a different food.

Grains & legumes

Early research

Natto

Three years of MK-7 in 244 women slowed bone loss at the lumbar spine and femoral neck — but not at the total hip. One year of natto capsules in 334 women changed nothing anywhere.

Grains & legumes

Early research

Rye

Rye products produced lower insulin responses than white wheat bread. Yet in the same trial, bread made from rye bran produced a higher insulin response than every other rye product — the opposite of what more fibre is supposed to do.

Grains & legumes

Moderate evidence

Buckwheat

Across 13 randomised human studies, total cholesterol fell 0.50 mmol/L — about 19 mg/dL. The authors also wrote that every outcome showed high unexplained heterogeneity.

Grains & legumes

Strong evidence

Soybeans

Across 40 randomised trials and 3,285 participants, endometrial thickness, vaginal maturation, FSH and oestradiol all stayed put. LDL did fall — by 4.76 mg/dL.

Grains & legumes

Nutrition data

Quinoa

Cooked quinoa holds 4.4 g of protein per 100 g. It does contain all the essential amino acids, but not in an amount that meets your protein needs.

Grains & legumes

Strong evidence

Barley

Beta-glucan lowers LDL by 0.25 mmol/L. The glucose effect, though, fades by two hours and HbA1c did not move at all.

Grains & legumes

Strong evidence

Chickpeas

7.6 g of fibre and 172 µg of folate per 100 g cooked. Twenty-eight trials found a glucose effect — graded very low certainty.

Grains & legumes

Moderate evidence

Corn

It carries 644 µg of lutein and zeaxanthin per 100 g. Yet in AREDS2's primary analysis, lutein supplementation did not significantly slow macular degeneration.