• Chickpeas
• Dry Beans
• Lentils
• Peas
• University of Saskatchewan
• Value-Added

Objective

To develop pre-packaged pulse-based snacks/meals for easy/convenient consumer use. To conduct consumer sensory evaluations on the pre-packaged pulse-based snacks/meals developed in objective 1. To use the pre-packaged foods from objective 2 in a clinical trial to improve metabolic health in office workers.

Outcome

Seven pre-packaged meals that can easily be incorporated into lunches of office workers were developed and evaluated for consumer preference and their health benefits in a clinical trial of office workers who replaced their regular work-day lunches and snacks with pulse-based meals. When participants in the study were evaluated for their preferred pulse-based meals during the 2-months of consumption, they rated the meals in the following order (from most preferred to least preferred): Vegetable Chickpea Chili, Chickpea Minestrone soup, Apricot Chickpea Salad, Date Lentil Tagine, Barley Lentil Soup, Lentil Quinoa Salad, Spilt Pea and Barley Pilaf. The meals were effective for improving body composition and blood cholesterol levels in these workers. For body composition, the pulse-diet resulted in an approximate 1% decrease in percent body fat compared to the regular diet. For cholesterol levels, the ratio of “bad” cholesterol (low-density lipoproteins) to “good” cholesterol (high-density lipoproteins) decreased by 6% on the pulse-based diet compared to an increase of 5% while on the regular diet. The ratio of total cholesterol to “good” cholesterol (high-density lipoproteins) decreased by 4% while on the pulse-based diet compared to an increase of 3% while on the regular diet.

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