In a randomized crossover trial, adults who ate chickpeas daily for at least five weeks saw serum LDL cholesterol fall by 4.6 percent and total cholesterol by 3.9 percent, compared with an otherwise matched wheat diet. The effect was small but statistically significant. The study was published in Annals of Nutrition and Metabolism by researchers at the University of Tasmania and colleagues in Australia.
The trial is one of the more concrete pieces of evidence behind a claim that has quietly built up in nutrition research over the past two decades. A separate 2023 systematic review and meta-analysis in Nutrients that pooled 12 randomized trials also found that chickpeas blunted the rise in blood glucose after a meal more effectively than potatoes or wheat.
A modest but real cholesterol effect
The chickpea study followed 47 free-living adults through two dietary periods of at least five weeks. In one period participants added chickpeas, in the other they added wheat-based foods with matched fiber. When they were eating chickpeas, their total and LDL cholesterol readings both came down.
The authors framed the shift as small but consistent, and attributed it partly to unintentional changes in fat and fiber intake that come with substituting chickpeas for other staples. This is close to the pattern seen with oats and other soluble-fiber foods, where the effect on LDL is real but should not be oversold.
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That is roughly in line with how Harvard Health frames legumes. Its cardiology-linked bulletin notes that eating chickpeas may improve cholesterol levels and reduce blood sugar, while stopping well short of calling them a treatment.
Steadier blood sugar after meals
The 2023 review, published in the journal Nutrients, screened 118 papers and pulled together 12 studies covering 182 mostly healthy adults. Across the pooled trials, the incremental blood glucose response after a chickpea-based meal was substantially lower than after mashed potatoes or wheat products.
The authors describe the mechanism in the review itself. Chickpeas offer the potential for blood sugar control through low starch digestibility, high fiber, protein, and hormonal effects. In plain terms, the starch in chickpeas is broken down more slowly, so glucose trickles into the bloodstream instead of arriving as a spike.
The review's authors caution that the number of pooled trials was small and the participants were largely non-diabetic, so the results should not be read as a treatment claim for type 2 diabetes.
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Gut effects, and what the evidence does not yet show
Chickpeas are dense in fermentable fiber, the kind that reaches the large intestine intact and becomes food for gut bacteria. That fermentation produces short-chain fatty acids such as butyrate, which support the colon lining.
The picture in humans is less tidy than the mechanism suggests. A 2022 systematic review of dietary fibers and short-chain fatty acids noted that a trial giving 200 g of canned chickpeas a day for three weeks did not shift total fecal short-chain fatty acid levels in healthy adults, though it did lower some potentially harmful bacterial groups.
So the shift in the microbiome community can happen before, or without, a measurable change in metabolites.
How much, and a common side effect
One cup of cooked chickpeas is about 164 g and delivers roughly 12 to 13 grams of fiber and 14 to 15 grams of plant protein, according to USDA FoodData Central. That is close to what participants in the cholesterol trial were adding to their diet.
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Ramping fiber up quickly can cause bloating and gas for a week or two while the gut microbiome adjusts. Adding chickpeas gradually and drinking more water eases that transition. Anyone on cholesterol or blood sugar medication should keep their doctor in the loop before treating food changes as a substitute for treatment.
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This article is made and published by Jesper Bengtson, who may have used AI in the preparation.