Keep your finger on the pulses of dietary health

Irene Labuschagne, a dietician at the Nutrition Information Centre at Stellenbosch University, says including pulses in your diet will be good for your health. She shares some of her insights on what sets South Africa apart in its eating habits.

FOOD is a big issue in South Africa – being the fattest country in sub-Saharan Africa and one of the 20 fattest countries in the world. Meanwhile, half of South Africans have access to so little food that they are at risk of hunger.

The country also faces the burden of infectious diseases such as HIV/ Aids and tuberculosis, existing alongside diseases of lifestyle such as under-nutrition, over-nutrition, diabetes, hypertension and cancer.

Just over a quarter of the population are still food insecure, despite sufficient food being produced at national level, according to the South African National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.

People think of food insecurity as only having insufficient amounts of food, but it can also include not having enough food of sufficient quality. It’s argued that a healthy diet is unaffordable for most South Africans. Food prices and incomes influence dietary habits, food choices and diet quality. Higher income groups are seen as having higher education levels and an increased awareness of health-related issues, and this has been used to explain the effect of socio-economic variables on the quality of dietary intake.

Our South African food-based dietary guidelines were developed to address our current health problems. Their guideline for pulses is: eat dry beans, split peas, lentils and soya regularly.

But why? Pulses and legumes are rich and affordable sources of good quality protein, carbohydrates, dietary fibre, vitamins and minerals and phytochemicals. And they are low in energy, fat and salt. They can improve diet quality and protect against lifestyle diseases.

A high dietary intake of phytochemicals with vegetables, fruits, nuts, legumes and whole grain is associated with a reduced risk of cardiovascular and other diseases.

Several studies have showed the beneficial effects of pulses on cardiovascular disease risk factors, and the metabolic syndrome.