Baked Beans - Healthy or Not?

Question
Hello Ms. Beebe

I have been doing some research on the internet to try to see how healthy baked beans are, as I sometimes enjoy them for breakfast.  I know that beans are healthy, but that baked beans tend to be high in sugar.  But at the same time, they rank low on the glycemic index on average according to this source:

http://www.health.harvard.edu/newsweek/Glycemic_index_and_glycemic_load_for_100_

Based on this information, I really was not sure how healthy they were.  As I said, they are high in sugar, but lower on the glycemic index that some cereals that do not contain any sugar, such as shredded wheat, which I believe is in the high 60s on the GI, close to 70 at which point a food is considered High GI.

I was wondering if you could offer any guidance on this matter.

Thank you and have a great day.

Answer
Hi Chris,

Well, the trouble I have answering your question is this: it's rarely the case that one food is healthy or not, but rather it is your overall diet that can be called healthy or not.

Baked beans can be part of a healthy diet, just like many other foods.
The glycemic index of a food really has no bearing on anything. It was developed to help people with diabetes control their blood sugar, but every individual has a different response to different foods. And when you eat any other food along with it, it destroys the whole concept because combined foods have very different absorption rates.

As a substitute for cereal, beans are a comparable source of complex carbohydrates along with soluble fiber, and they have a higher protein content. On the other hand, though, cereal is usually eaten with milk, and baked beans are not a great source of calcium and riboflavin. Baked beans in a can are also going to have a much higher sodium content.

So it really depends on everything else you eat during the day, and if you need to limit your intake of any particular nutrients (like sugar or sodium) for health reasons.  

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