Here’s How Lentils Can Help You Manage High Blood Pressure

A daily cup of peas, lentils, garbanzo beans, or beans can keep your blood pressure in check and even lower it. Legumes and beans are big on fiber and can help ward off coronary heart disease, too.

black lentils

Best of all, black lentils are the most nutritious variety of lentils, boasting the highest amount of protein, plus high levels of calcium, potassium, and iron

Eating one serving a day of beans, peas, chickpeas or lentils can significantly reduce “bad cholesterol” and therefore the risk of cardiovascular disease, a new study has found.

Whether brown, green, or red, lentils or dals are an excellent source of energy. Dal rice or khichdi is a staple in most Indian households. Low in calories and high in fibre, amino acids and antioxidants, they are an excellent dietary supplement. Indeed, they can bring multiple benefits to the body. Urad, masoor, moong, arhar (tur), chana, and rajma are all an important source of vitamins, minerals like iron, magnesium, phosphorus and potassium and carbohydrates. These help to maintain an optimal level of energy.

How can lentils help control hypertension?

Our expert Nidhi Dhawan, HOD – Dietetics, Saroj Super Speciality Hospital, Delhi, suggests that people with hypertension must add legumes and lentils to their daily diet. Lentils contain a small amount of polyunsaturated fatty acids, which help to eliminate the harmful lipids that form plaque in the arteries. This promotes better blood circulation and thus keeps hypertension at bay. Moreover, their fibre content can reduce the absorption of fat and cholesterol in the gut, to avoid disorders pertaining to high cholesterol levels in the blood. Another benefit of lentils is that they can help control blood sugar levels. They have high fibre content, which prevents sugar levels from rising too rapidly after a meal. Research suggests that the consumption of lentils may increase the availability of arginine and other compounds that may help increase nitric oxide production in the body, thus also adding to the blood-pressure-lowering effects of lentil-rich diets.^[1]

Ways to add lentils or dal to your diet

Add parboiled lentils to your salads
Leftover dal or cooked dal can be added to the dough when preparing rotis.
Legumes like chickpeas can be boiled with salt and consumed as a midday snack
Add different types of dals like moong, masoor and tur dal to your daily diet
Make tikkis or sandwiches with kidney beans (rajma) and dal mix

Frequently Asked Questions:

Lentils have very similar health benefits as beans, but they have a few advantages. They are lower in phytates than beans. Phytates, decrease the body's ability to absorb micronutrients. In fact, red lentils may have less than 50% of the phytates than some low phytate varieties of corn, wheat, beans, and soybeans.

Lentils to do not require soaking like other pulses. Rinse your lentils with fresh water before boiling to remove any dust or debris. Cook on a stovetop, using 3 cups of liquid (water, stock, etc) to 1 cup of dry lentils.