As midsummer approaches, mung bean water has become a popular summer drink for many. However, experts advise that people with a weak or cold body constitution, the elderly, and children should not consume too much mung bean. Additionally, those who are currently taking medication should avoid eating mung bean.
Professor Wang Zhenyu from the Department of Traditional Chinese Medicine at the Second Affiliated Hospital of Harbin Medical University introduced that mung beans contain protein, fat, carbohydrates, calcium, phosphorus, iron, carotene, and more. Experiments have shown that mung beans can prevent atherosclerosis, lower elevated blood lipid levels, and have detoxifying and liver-protecting effects.
When summer arrives, a bowl of cool mung bean soup can indeed clear heat and detoxify, and drinking more of it has certain benefits. However, it should be noted that mung bean is a cooling food. For those with a weak or cold body constitution, overconsumption can lead to internal cold, aversion to cold, cold limbs, abdominal pain, and diarrhea. Those with a yin deficiency should also avoid it, as the cooling nature of mung bean can easily exacerbate deficient fire, leading to symptoms like canker sores and swollen, painful gums.
Specifically, the following groups are not suitable for drinking mung bean water: 1. People with a cold constitution. For example, those with symptoms like cold limbs, bloating, or loose stools should not drink too much mung bean soup, as it can worsen their symptoms and trigger other illnesses. 2. The elderly, children, and people with a weak constitution. Because the protein content in mung beans is higher than that in chicken, large-molecule proteins need to be converted into small-molecule peptides and amino acids with the help of enzymes to be absorbed by the body. The digestive function of these people's gastrointestinal tracts is relatively poor, making it difficult to digest mung bean protein in a short time, which can easily lead to indigestion and diarrhea. 3. People who are taking various medications. The detoxifying components in mung bean can break down the effectiveness of the medicine, affecting treatment.
Wang Zhenyu suggests that to avoid mung bean being too cold, one does not necessarily have to drink mung bean soup; they can choose to eat mung bean congee instead. If you want to boil mung beans separately in sweet water for drinking, the mung beans must be cooked until very soft.