Navy beans are small, white, oval beans, a variety of the common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris). They are the beans commonly used in canned baked beans, and in the UK they are called haricot beans. The name comes from the US Navy, which has served them to sailors as a staple since the mid-1800s.
Gram for gram, boiled navy beans are rich in fiber: 10.5 g per 100 g, against 7 g in boiled great northern beans, another white bean. A cup (182 g) has 19.1 g of fiber and 64% of the Daily Value for folate, and per 100 g folate ranks in the top 11% of the 130 foods compared on this site.
Cooking and canning change how navy beans act in the body. In six people, canned baked beans raised blood sugar and insulin more than home-boiled ones, and in lab tests the starch in canned beans broke down 6 to 8 times faster. Most human research on navy beans comes from Colorado State University, where trials gave cancer survivors and children cooked navy bean powder. Several were supported in part by a dry bean research group, as the cards below note.
Health benefits of navy beans
The top findings from 24 studies, strongest evidence first
What the stars mean
- Strong. Several randomized trials, pooled in a meta-analysis, point the same way, or regulators (FDA or EFSA) have approved the claim.
- Moderate. Good randomized trials support it, but there are fewer of them, or their results vary.
- Limited. Small, short or single trials, or mixed results. Promising, but it needs confirmation.
Population and lab studies get no stars: they show a link or a mechanism, not proof.
How we rate evidence →- ★Mixed cholesterol results with baked beansIn young men with normal cholesterol, a can of baked beans a day for 14 days lowered total cholesterol from 5.1 to 4.5 mmol/L. In men with mildly raised cholesterol, about six cans a week did not lower it compared with canned spaghetti.
- ★Smaller waist in overweight adultsIn 14 overweight or obese adults, 5 cups of canned navy beans a week for 4 weeks cut waist size by 2.1 to 2.5 cm. It was very small and short.
- ★Lower blood sugar peak, depending on preparationIn young men, navy beans (whole, pureed or powder) lowered peak blood sugar versus whole-wheat flour, though the average over 120 minutes did not differ. Canned baked beans raised blood sugar and insulin more than home-boiled beans in six people.
- ★Higher “good” HDL in children with abnormal cholesterolAfter 4 weeks of 17.5 g a day of navy bean powder, children with abnormal cholesterol had higher HDL than the control group. They were aged 8 to 13, in a small pilot trial.
- ★More gut bacterial diversity in cancer survivorsIn 29 overweight or obese colorectal cancer survivors, 35 g a day of navy bean powder for 28 days increased gut bacterial diversity. It was a small pilot trial.
All 24 studies, strongest evidence first
Eating 5 cups of canned navy beans a week for 4 weeks cut waist size by 2.1 to 2.5 cm in overweight adults
Small study of 14 overweight or obese adults who added the beans to their usual diet. In men, total cholesterol fell 11.5% and LDL 18%, while in women both stayed about the same and pulse rate rose 9.6%. It was very small and short, and it measured risk markers, not illness.
One can of baked beans a day for 14 days lowered total cholesterol from 5.1 to 4.5 mmol/L in young men with normal cholesterol
13 male students ate a 450 g can of baked beans in tomato sauce daily, and 11 of them later ate a 440 g can of spaghetti in tomato sauce daily, which did not lower cholesterol. HDL cholesterol fell in both periods, and triglycerides and insulin did not change. The beans added fiber, protein and sugar to the diet.
About six 440 g cans of baked beans a week did not lower cholesterol compared with canned spaghetti
Crossover trial in 20 men with mildly raised cholesterol. The beans gave 12 g a day more non-starch polysaccharide fiber than the spaghetti, which was not enough to change cholesterol, HDL, triglycerides or glucose. The authors note that the large servings did not replace dietary fat.
Children with abnormal cholesterol who ate 17.5 g of navy bean powder a day for 4 weeks had higher HDL cholesterol than the control group
Pilot randomized trial in 38 children aged 8 to 13, split into four groups of 9 to 10 (control, navy bean powder, rice bran, or both) and given muffins or a smoothie. The bean powder was well tolerated and raised fiber intake, but the authors say higher doses for longer are needed to change several lipids. Funded in part by the Dry Bean Health Research Program, and a food company supplied the powder.
Navy beans did not reduce later food intake compared with white bread in three short experiments in young men
14 or 15 young men per experiment ate navy beans (canned or homemade, plain or in sauce) or other pulses, against white bread or a glucose drink, then ate pizza 120 minutes later. Blood sugar rose less after navy beans than after white bread, and the recipe changed the response while canning did not. How full people felt depended mainly on calories.
Pasta with navy beans lowered the blood sugar curve before a later meal compared with pasta and sauce alone
Crossover trial in 24 young men. Pulses supplied 44% of the energy in a pasta and tomato sauce meal, using navy beans, chickpeas, lentils or yellow peas. Navy beans led to less food eaten at that meal than chickpeas did, while lentils also beat plain pasta. Funded by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada under its Pulse Research Network.
Navy beans eaten whole, puréed or as powder lowered the peak blood sugar compared with whole-wheat flour
Three randomized experiments in healthy young men, with navy beans in the first (lentils and chickpeas in the others), each matched for available carbohydrate. Average blood sugar over 120 minutes did not differ from the whole-wheat control for navy beans, and the form of the beans did not predict the response, so commercial powder kept the effect on the peak.
Canned baked beans raised blood sugar and insulin more than home-boiled beans in six people
Each person ate three test meals with 50 g of carbohydrate: glucose, canned baked beans or home-cooked baked beans. Responses were highest after glucose and lowest after home-cooked beans, and lab tests found starch in canned beans broke down 6 to 8 times faster. Pressure cooking raised starch digestibility, and mildly acidic conditions (pH 5.0) lowered it.
Removing phytic acid from navy bean flour raised the blood sugar response to bread made from it
Lab and human tests used unleavened bread made from navy bean flour. Adding calcium did the same, while adding phytic acid back to the phytic-acid-free flour had the opposite effect, so the phytic acid in the beans helps slow starch digestion. It is an old study that tested digestion, not health outcomes.
35 g of navy bean powder a day for 4 weeks raised fiber intake in colorectal cancer survivors without causing major digestive problems
Randomized trial in which 29 survivors finished 4 weeks of study meals and snacks with cooked navy bean powder (35 g a day), heat-stabilized rice bran (30 g) or neither. Fiber rose in the bean and bran groups at weeks 2 and 4. It tested feasibility, and the authors call for longer trials. Funding included the Dry Bean Health Research Group.
35 g of navy bean powder a day was eaten as planned 89 to 100% of the time in meals and snacks over 28 days
16 healthy adults (7 without cancer, 9 colorectal cancer survivors) finished a placebo-controlled, randomized trial. Survivors in the bean group raised their fiber intake, and people without cancer in the bean group ate fewer total calories by week 4. A dry bean research group helped fund it, and a food company donated the powder.
Navy bean powder for 28 days increased gut bacterial diversity in colorectal cancer survivors
Randomized pilot trial in 29 overweight or obese survivors given 35 g a day of bean powder, 30 g of rice bran or a control meal and snack. Rice bran also lowered the Firmicutes to Bacteroidetes ratio and raised stool propionate and acetate at 14 days, but navy beans did not. The authors say foods that raise fiber equally may not act equally on gut bacteria.
Four weeks of navy beans changed 26 stool metabolites compared with control in colorectal cancer survivors
Small randomized trial in overweight and obese survivors who ate 35 g of cooked navy bean a day in one meal and one snack. Of 560 compounds found in the cooked beans, 237 possible bean-derived ones turned up in stool. It measured metabolites, not cancer outcomes. Funded in part by the Dry Bean Health Research Group, and a food company supplied the bean powder.
Navy beans for 4 weeks changed 16 blood and 16 urine compounds compared with control in colorectal cancer survivors
Single-blind randomized trial in 20 overweight or obese survivors given 35 g of bean powder a day or none. Some changes involved compounds the authors describe as cancer-protective, such as plasma pipecolate, which rose 3.89-fold. It measured metabolites, not recurrence. Funding included the Dry Bean Health Research Group.
Navy bean powder changed 18 blood lipids compared with control in children with abnormal cholesterol
Pilot trial in 38 children, about 10 years old, who ate a snack with 17.5 g of navy bean powder, rice bran, both or neither for 4 weeks. Navy bean intake lowered free fatty acids linked to metabolic disease and raised anti-inflammatory lipids. It measured blood compounds, not heart disease. Funded by a USDA grant, with the bean powder supplied by a food company.
Fewer than half of people reported more gas in the first week of eating half a cup of baked beans or pinto beans a day
Questionnaires from three feeding studies of 8 to 12 weeks, including a crossover in 29 people eating half a cup of baked beans or canned carrots. Only 3 to 11% reported more gas even on control diets, and the authors conclude that worry about gas may be exaggerated. The studies also used pinto beans and black-eyed peas.
A review of five human studies of pulses found inconsistent effects on gut bacteria, one of them using cooked navy bean powder
Systematic review of dietary pulses as a group, not navy beans alone. Two studies used whole pulses (chickpeas and pinto beans), one used navy bean powder and two used pulse fiber. Some showed changes in gut bacteria, but methods varied widely, and the authors call for more studies linking pulse types to health outcomes.
People whose dry bean intake rose the most had 0.35 times the odds of advanced adenoma recurrence than those whose intake rose the least
Analysis within the Polyp Prevention Trial, comparing the top and bottom quarters of change in dry bean intake (the top quarter ate 370% more than at baseline). The 95% confidence interval was 0.18 to 0.69. It covers dry beans as a group, not navy beans alone, and observational data cannot prove cause.
Adults who ate beans had a 22% lower risk of obesity in a US national survey
Analysis of 1,475 people in NHANES 1999 to 2002 using a 24-hour food recall. Bean eaters had higher intakes of fiber, potassium, magnesium, iron and copper, and a 23% lower risk of a larger waist, and baked bean eaters had lower systolic blood pressure. It covers beans in general, including baked beans, and shows a link, not cause.
Rats fed a diet of 75% navy beans developed colon cancer less often (14% against 36%) after a cancer-causing chemical
Rats were followed for 31 weeks after two injections of the chemical azoxymethane. Tumors per rat were 1.0 on navy beans and 2.2 on the control diet, which the authors credit to leaner bodies and more butyrate in the colon. A 75% bean diet is far beyond what people eat, and this was an animal study.
Cooked navy beans cut colon lesions of any type by 56% in obese mice given a cancer-causing chemical
160 male obese mice ate whole cooked navy beans, the insoluble bean residue, a bean extract or a control diet. For dysplasia, adenomas and adenocarcinomas, the whole beans cut them by 54%, which was not statistically significant (P=0.10), while the residue cut them by 81% and the extract by 91%. This was an animal study.
Navy and black bean diets lowered inflammation markers but worsened colon damage in mice with colitis
Mice ate 20% navy or black bean flour for 2 weeks before colitis was induced with a chemical for 7 days. The beans raised short-chain fatty acids and reduced several inflammatory cytokines, but they also raised the injury score and cell death in the colon. The authors call for research to learn what happens in people.
A navy bean powder diet raised the gut bacterium Akkermansia muciniphila 19-fold in obese mice
Mice ate a high-fat diet with or without 15.7% cooked navy bean powder for 12 weeks. The beans also reduced gut leakiness and improved insulin resistance and inflammation markers. This was a mouse study, so results in people may differ.
In a lab fermentation test, processing did not change gas production from navy beans, though it did for lentils and green peas
Human stool bacteria were grown in a test tube on pulses processed in several ways. Germination cut gas from lentils and green peas, but it also reduced the beneficial compounds the bacteria made. This was a lab test, not a human trial.
Who should be careful with navy beans
Most people can eat navy beans freely. Take a little care if one of these applies:
- Irritable bowel syndrome or a gassy gut. Monash University says legumes are high in galacto-oligosaccharides (GOS) and fructans, and that canned beans, or beans boiled and drained, tend to be lower in FODMAPs because some of these sugars leach into the water. Draining and rinsing canned beans is the simple fix.
- Raw or undercooked beans. Beans contain a lectin, phytohaemagglutinin, found in many bean species and highest in red kidney beans. The FDA says adequate cooking destroys it, and it advises boiling kidney beans for at least 30 minutes and not using a slow cooker for them. Canned beans are already cooked.
How to choose, store and eat navy beans
- Dried and boiled: the nutrition facts on this page are for boiled navy beans without salt, with 10.5 g of fiber per 100 g. Maine Extension, citing the US Dry Bean Council, gives 1½ to 2 hours of cooking after soaking, and says salt or acidic foods such as tomatoes slow the cooking.
- Canned: already cooked, and the trial that gave 5 cups of canned navy beans a week for 4 weeks used them ready to eat. Monash says draining and rinsing lowers the gas-causing sugars.
- Baked beans: USDA data for canned plain baked beans show 7.96 g of sugar and 343 mg of sodium per 100 g, against 0.67 g of sugar and no sodium in plain boiled navy beans. A no-salt-added version has 1 mg of sodium and 7.78 g of sugar.
Look for evenly white dried beans, since discolored ones may have been poorly handled, and sort out stones and damaged beans before cooking. Keep dried beans in a cool, dry place for up to a year. Cooked beans keep 3 to 4 days in the fridge or up to 6 months in the freezer, and one cup of dry beans makes 2 to 3 cups cooked.
Sources
- Bad Bug Book, second edition: phytohaemagglutinin (kidney bean lectin). US Food and Drug Administration. 2012.
- Including legumes on a low FODMAP diet. Monash FODMAP blog. 2016.
- Winham DM, Hutchins AM. Perceptions of flatulence from bean consumption among adults in 3 feeding studies. Nutr J. 2011.
- Traianedes K, O’Dea K. Commercial canning increases the digestibility of beans in vitro and postprandial metabolic responses to them in vivo. Am J Clin Nutr. 1986.
- How to store and cook dried beans. University of Maine Cooperative Extension. 2021.
- Beans, baked, canned, plain or vegetarian. USDA FoodData Central (SR Legacy, FDC ID 175182).
- Beans, baked, canned, no salt added. USDA FoodData Central (SR Legacy, FDC ID 168128).
- Beans, navy, mature seeds, cooked, boiled, without salt. USDA FoodData Central (SR Legacy, FDC ID 173746).
- Navy bean. Wikipedia.
- Baked beans. Wikipedia.
History of navy beans
The navy bean is a variety of the common bean, a crop first domesticated in the Americas. Colorado State University Extension puts the domestication at 8,000 to 10,000 years ago. A genome study confirmed that the species was domesticated twice, independently, from Mesoamerican and Andean gene pools that had split before people arrived.
Where it began is still studied. Sequence data from wild plants point to a Mesoamerican origin for the common bean, with the South American gene pools descending from central Mexican populations through separate migrations. Wikipedia notes that the beans used in baked beans are native to the Americas and reached Europe around 1528.
Baked beans trace back to Native American bean cooking, which English colonists in New England adapted. They swapped maple syrup for molasses, and navy or white pea beans became the choice in Massachusetts. Boston, nicknamed Beantown after the dish, still makes its baked beans with small white navy beans.
The name is American. The US Navy has served the beans as a staple since the mid-1800s. In Australia, navy bean growing began in World War II as a cheap way to feed the many American troops in Queensland, and Kingaroy there is known as the Baked Bean Capital of Australia.
Canning made baked beans a convenience food. Heinz began mass-produced canning of baked beans in the United States in 1895 and sold them across the UK from 1901, where the sauce became less sweet. Navy beans also star in Senate bean soup, served in the US Senate dining room every day. When wartime rationing left the kitchen short of navy beans in September 1943, a newspaper reported the soup missing.
Sources
- Schmutz J, McClean PE, Mamidi S, et al. A reference genome for common bean and genome-wide analysis of dual domestications. Nat Genet. 2014.
- Bitocchi E, Nanni L, Bellucci E, et al. Mesoamerican origin of the common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) is revealed by sequence data. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2012.
- How to prepare, store, and enjoy beans and other pulses. Colorado State University Extension.
- Navy bean. Wikipedia.
- Baked beans. Wikipedia.
- Boston baked beans. Wikipedia.
- Senate bean soup. Wikipedia.
Frequently asked questions about navy beans
Are navy beans good for you?
For most people, yes. A cup (182 g) of boiled navy beans has 255 calories, 15 g of protein and 19.1 g of fiber, which is 68% of the Daily Value, plus 64% of the Daily Value for folate. The trials are small and no navy bean finding reaches strong or moderate evidence, so the case rests mostly on the nutrition facts. Plain boiled beans have no sodium and only 0.67 g of natural sugar per 100 g, unlike canned baked beans.
Are baked beans healthy?
They can fit, but the sauce changes the numbers. USDA data for canned plain baked beans show 7.96 g of sugar and 343 mg of sodium per 100 g, against 0.67 g of sugar and no sodium in plain boiled navy beans. A can a day lowered cholesterol in 13 young men, but about six cans a week did not in 20 men with mildly raised cholesterol. Canned baked beans also raised blood sugar and insulin more than home-boiled beans in six people.
Do navy beans cause gas?
They can, like other beans, but many people notice less than they expect. Monash says legumes are high in GOS and fructans, and that canned or boiled and drained legumes tend to be lower in FODMAPs. In three feeding studies, fewer than half of people reported more gas from half a cup of baked or pinto beans in the first week, and 3 to 11% reported more even on control diets. In a trial of 35 g of navy bean powder a day, no major digestive problems were reported.
How much protein and fiber do navy beans have?
A cup (182 g) of boiled navy beans has 15 g of protein and 19.1 g of fiber, or 8.23 g and 10.5 g per 100 g. Protein supplies about 27% of the calories. Its protein completeness score is 91 out of 100, with methionine plus cysteine the limiting amino acids, so it is close to complete on its own.
Do navy beans lower cholesterol?
They might, but the evidence is small and mixed. In 14 adults, 5 cups of canned navy beans a week for 4 weeks lowered LDL by 18% in men but left it about the same in women. In 38 children with abnormal cholesterol, 17.5 g of navy bean powder a day gave higher HDL than control, and in 20 men with mildly raised cholesterol about six cans of baked beans a week changed nothing.
What is the difference between navy beans and great northern beans?
Navy beans are among the smaller white beans, and they have more fiber. Boiled navy beans have 10.5 g of fiber and 140 calories per 100 g, against 7 g and 118 calories for great northern beans, while protein is nearly the same at 8.23 and 8.3 g. Navy beans also have more folate, 140 against 102 µg per 100 g.
Are navy beans the same as haricot beans?
Yes. Haricot bean is another name for the navy bean, and in the UK it is the small white bean in canned baked beans. Boston bean, white pea bean and pea bean are other names for the same variety. The name navy bean is American and comes from the US Navy serving them as a staple since the mid-1800s.
Do navy beans help with weight loss?
No trial here tested weight loss. Navy beans did not cut later food intake in three short experiments in young men, and bean eaters in a US survey had a 22% lower risk of obesity, which is a link, not proof. Boiled navy beans have 140 calories and 10.5 g of fiber per 100 g, so they fill a plate for few calories.