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Current Legume Consumption in U.S. Adults: Results from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 2011-2014 (P04-135-19).

Objectives
The objective of this study was to evaluate current legume consumption in U.S. adults by using cross-sectional data from the 2011-12 and 2013-14-year cycles of NHANES.


Methods
Participants were grouped into non-legume consumers and consumers, which were further grouped into low mature legume consumers (<37.5 g/d, which are the dietary recommendations for mature legume consumption), marginal mature legume consumption (37.5-87.49 g/d, the latter being the cut-off point demonstrating nutritional and disease prevention benefits), and disease prevention mature legume consumption (≥ 87.5 g/d legume consumption). Groups were compared using a t-test (for comparison of legume consumers vs. non-consumers) or generalized least-squared means (for comparison among legume consumer groups) for continuous data and a chi-square test for categorical data. All tests were two-sided. Significance of group differences was determined to be at P ≤ 0.05.


Results
Legume consumption frequency in U.S. adults was low and showed a downward trend from 2011 to 2014 of 18.5% to 13.7% on a given day. The downward trend is primarily due to a decrease in dry bean consumption from 10.0% to 6.5%. The primary legume groups consumed were dry beans and green legumes; chickpeas and lentils were consumed by about 1% of participants at a given day. Legumes were mainly consumed as side or main dish (both primarily dry beans and green legumes) with a declining trend over time for using legumes as soup and main dish. 2.2% (2011-2012) and 1.8% (2013-2014) of NHANES participants ate at least 1 cup/d of mature legumes, 7.1% (2011-2012) and 5.3% (2013-2014) at least 0.5 cup/d of mature legumes, and 14.0% (2011-2012) and 10.7% (2013-2014) at least 37.5 g/d of mature legumes during the 2 surveying days after adjusting for caloric intake.


Conclusions
Legume consumption declined rather than increased in U.S. adults, warranting improved communication about the disease prevention benefits of regular legume consumption.


Funding Sources
None.