What Is Horse Gram, and Is It Good for Your Health?

Horse gram is a legume widely used in cuisine worldwide, especially in Asia. Horse gram is healthy because it is rich in protein and nutrients and can aid in weight loss.

Horse gram is a legume widely used in cuisine worldwide, especially in Asia. It is also used in traditional medicine for its health benefits and to cure various ailments. Apart from proteins and carbohydrates, horse gram is rich in minerals, vitamins, and bioactive compounds like phytic acids, polyphenols, and alkaloids. 

This legume is not popular in American cuisine, but it has several benefits for your health and may even be helpful as a component of your weight loss plans. 

Horse gram (Macrotyloma uniflorum) is also known as hurdle, kulthi, and Madras beans. This plant is a legume and grows as a short, climbing shrub. Its grain has been used as cattle and horse feed for centuries. 

Horse gram grows in the tropics and sub-tropics. The plant is drought-tolerant and resistant to many common pests, making it valuable as a food source in adverse circumstances. This plant can even survive in adverse climates where other crops fail. 

Horse gram is chiefly cultivated in India, Burma, Mauritius, Malaysia, Australia, Africa, and the West Indies.

Like other legumes, horse gram is rich in protein and other nutrients. It also contains fiber, phytochemicals, and micronutrients. A 100-gram portion of dry horse grams provides:

• Protein: 22.5 grams
• Fats: 1.4 grams
• Carbohydrates: 66.6 grams
• Dietary fiber: 16.3 grams
• Phytic acid: 1.02 grams
• Polyphenols: 1.43 grams

Its minimal fat content makes horse gram a valuable part of weight loss diets. Phytic acid, meanwhile, makes legumes hard to cook but also has anticancer and antioxidant properties. Polyphenols reduce the digestibility of proteins in food but also protect you against free radicals that can cause disorders like cancer and atherosclerosis. Additionally, the protein in horse gram is soluble at acidic pH, making it a valuable component of acidic beverages and food products.

Horse gram has a similarly useful amount of dietary fiber. This is an important nutrient that reduces your risk of heart disease, bowel cancer, stroke, and type 2 diabetes mellitus. Fiber is also good for digestion and preventing constipation. A meal rich in fiber will keep you feeling full for longer periods.

Carbohydrates make up more than half the dry weight of horse gram, but many of these are non-digestible carbohydrates like non-starch polysaccharides. In fact, more than 43% of the starch in horse gram is made up of resistant starch that is not digested. Resistant starches help protect you from bowel cancer, diabetes, and constipation.

Proteins are vital for your body. They are needed for the formation of bones, muscles, and other tissues. They're also needed to produce hormones, enzymes, antibodies, and hundreds of other molecules your body needs.

The daily protein requirement for sedentary adults is 0.8 grams per kilogram of body weight. The requirement for people with an active lifestyle is even higher. If you weigh, for example, 60 kilograms (132 lb) and exercise regularly, you need at least 60 grams of protein a day. 

Most Western diets meet protein requirements thanks to meat consumption. However, meat-based diets include significant amounts of saturated fats. Consuming more protein from plant sources like legumes, lentils, and chickpeas is better for overall health. Plant protein sources such as horse gram are naturally low in fat and high in fiber, so replacing some of the meat-based food in your diet with horse gram will likely benefit your health.

That being said, it is important to note that proteins from animal sources are complete proteins containing all nine essential amino acids your body needs. In contrast, most proteins from plant sources lack one or more of these essential amino acids. Horse gram proteins, for instance, are deficient in methionine and tryptophan.

Still, amino acid deficiency is rare. You can easily get all the essential amino acids by simply eating a variety of plant proteins.

Weight loss depends on reducing your energy intake so it becomes less than your energy expenditure. This typically means reducing your food intake and increasing your energy output via exercise. Luckily, horse gram contains significant amounts of dietary fiber and protein, both of which are associated with satiety, which is important to the success of a diet plan. Protein is, for instance, more filling than fats and carbohydrates. 

Horse gram contains several chemical compounds like flavonoids, phenolics, phytosterols, saponins, terpenoids, and alkaloids that have potent health-promoting actions. Legumes like horse gram are an important part of balanced diets and protect you from chronic diseases like type 2 diabetes mellitus and heart and blood vessel disorders.

More than a million Americans experience an incident caused by heart disease annually. Even survivors have a high chance of future morbidity and premature death. Legumes like horse gram reduce blood cholesterol levels and insulin resistance, though. Legumes also have low amounts of sodium and provide you with calcium, magnesium, and potassium. Eating legumes regularly, then, can reduce your risk of heart disease.

Humans have cultivated horse gram for centuries. It is consumed in several parts of the world and has a distinctive taste and texture. The seeds can be boiled or fried. They can also be crushed and added to many recipes. 

Horse gram is also used in traditional medicine to manage:

• Urinary stones
• Irregular periods
• Hiccups
• Worms
• Common colds and throat infections

Of course, these uses are based on tradition. There isn't currently good scientific evidence of horse gram's efficacy in curing these specific disorders, but including horse gram in your diet plan will help you meet your protein requirements without the surplus of saturated fatty acids that could come from meat.