Raising the Pulse: Small beans, big opportunities
The British Nutrition Foundation Nutrition Intelligence Team
Pulses – that’s beans, dried peas and lentils - are nutrient powerhouses – low in saturated fat, high in protein and fibre and a source of essential vitamins and minerals like iron and folate. They are also a food choice that’s good for the planet. However, in the UK we eat surprisingly few.
The British Nutrition Foundation is working with the University of Reading (led by Prof Julie Lovegrove) on Raising the Pulse, one of the forward thinking and innovative projects in the Transforming the UK Food System for Healthy People and a Healthy Environment Research Programme. This research council-funded programme aims to fundamentally transform the UK food system by placing healthy people and a healthy natural environment at its centre.
Why focus on pulses?
Eating more pulses can benefit both our health and the planet, as they have a healthy nutrient profile (high in protein, micronutrients and fibre), as well as a relatively low carbon footprint and the ability to support soil health. Pulses can ‘fix’ nitrogen from the atmosphere with no need for polluting nitrate fertilisers.
One of the exciting aspects of Raising the Pulse is that it is looking at a pulse best suited to the UK, the faba bean. Although this has been grown in the UK for thousands of years, the faba bean is perhaps less well known than the imported soy bean.
The University of Reading and partners are looking as to how the faba bean may be successfully incorporated into familiar looking and tasting, economical and convenient staple foods, with improved nutritional profile and environmental value - perhaps these will be on our shelves in the near future! In the meantime, as we look to transition to net zero our food choices are key, and shifting to plant-based proteins like pulses will be part of this.
At the British Nutrition Foundation, we have been supporting the University of Reading with campus-wide engagement, information and dissemination on the nutritional, health and environmental benefits of UK-grown faba beans and other pulses. We will look to see how this may change awareness and perceptions, and food purchasing behaviour. This should allow valuable lessons to be learnt for increasing pulse intake on a wider UK basis.
We hope that this study will provide a stimulus to encourage consumers towards a greater intake of pulses and food manufacturers to use UK pulses in more of their products.
You can read about the Raising the Pulse project in greater detail in:
Below, you can download our factsheet on pulses and recipes developed by the project in partnership with Jamie Oliver's Ministry of Food:
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Article by British Nutrition Foundation