A study by Chinese scientists has found that black bean skin extract can enhance the body's absorption of iron. Consuming black beans with their skin can improve anemia symptoms. At the same time, this research provides a new avenue for developing safe and effective drugs to treat anemia.
This research achievement comes from the team of Professor Wang Fu from the College of Public Health at Zhejiang University. They discovered that the blood-enriching effect of the black bean skin extract is achieved by acting on "hepcidin" in the human body.
"Through experiments, we found that black beans have a significant effect on improving anemia," Wang Fu explained. In experiments at the cellular level in vitro, the black bean skin extract effectively inhibited the activity of hepcidin. In animal experiments, after mice consumed crushed black bean skins for one week, their hematopoietic function significantly improved. During the dietary period, the number of red blood cells, the amount of hemoglobin, and the hematocrit (an indicator of an increase or decrease in red blood cells) in the body rose significantly.
The paper on this research was published on January 6 in the renowned international nutrition journal, the British Journal of Nutrition. Black beans have become the first food to be reported internationally that can directly inhibit hepcidin.