UK researchers aim to “Raise the Pulse” by encouraging beans in toast

20 Jan 2023 --- The University of Reading is encouraging British consumers and food producers to switch to bread containing faba beans, citing the option as a healthier, more sustainable alternative to imported soya beans, which are currently used in bread production as an improver.

The US$2.4 million, three-year Raise the Pulse project began earlier this week with the publication of a study in Nutrition Bulletin journal outlining the environmental, nutritional and health benefits of pulse-enhanced foods. The study aims to “bring about a step change in the nutritional value of the UK consumers’ diet” to improve the UK food system’s health and sustainability.

Professor Julie Lovegrove, leader of the program, spills the beans on why the project targets bread.

“We had to think laterally: What do most people eat, and how can we improve their nutrition without them having to change their diets? The obvious answer is bread.” 

“Ninety-six percent of people in the UK eat bread, and 90% of that is white bread, which in most cases contains soya. We’ve already performed some experiments and found that faba bean flour can directly replace imported soya flour and some of the wheat flour, which is low in nutrients,” she continues. 

“We can grow the faba beans here and produce and test the faba bean-rich bread with improved nutritional quality.”

Raising the Pulse is a multidisciplinary research program funded by the UKRI Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council as part of their ‘Transforming UK Food Systems’ initiative.

Professor Julie Lovegrove encourages the use of faba beans within UK diets.Encouraging change
The project outlines how faba beans, primarily used as animal feed in the UK, are ideally placed to replace soya beans. Researchers are optimizing the sustainability and nutritional quality of faba beans grown on UK soil, intending to encourage farmers to reassign land assigned for wheat production to produce faba beans for human consumption.

Raising the Pulse seeks to improve bean production’s growing, harvesting and milling stages. Researchers will be choosing or breeding healthy and high-yielding varieties, working with the soil to enhance yield via nitrogen-fixing bacteria, mitigating the environmental impacts of farming faba beans, planning for the changing climate and more.

The study notes that within grain legumes, the faba bean has “the highest yield potential and nitrogen-fixation rates in the United Kingdom and globally” and also provides valuable floral resources for a diversity of pollinators.

Nutritionally, faba beans are high in easily digested protein, fiber and iron, which can be low within the diets of UK consumers. However, the project notes that these consumers are largely unfamiliar with cooking and eating faba beans, which proves a significant hurdle. 

Testing the water
Adjusting consumer behavior toward accepting new diets is often tricky, with the study noting that “nudging people to make better food choices is challenging, as factors including affordability, convenience and taste often take priority over the achievement of health and environmental benefits.”

The project aims to test the response to faba diets by canvassing students within the University of Reading. Catering outlets will present novel foods to the students via the “Menus for Change” research program. Matt Tebbit, who runs the program, explains more.

“Students will be asked to rate products made or enriched with faba beans, such as bread, flatbread and hummus. They will be asked questions about how full they felt, for how long and their liking of the foods,” he explains. 

“It is hoped that faba beans will improve satiety and provide enhanced nutritional benefits in enjoyable products.”

In terms of shifts in consumer behavior, Innova Market Insights notes ‘Redefining Value’ and ‘Affordable Nutrition’ as its first and second Top Trends for 2023. Customers are responding to the cost of living crisis and sustainability concerns by turning toward products they feel display nutritional, economic and global benefits. 

By James Davies