This tasty snack is quick and easy to make with no special equipment, it goes great with sliced carrot, pepper or some whole grain pitta bread. It’s a great base which you can easily snaz up, add some spice or coriander to the recipe if that’s your thing. Keep it in the fridge once it’s made and make sure you munch it within two days.
Website: shown in the video, this snack is not only tasty, cheap and quick to prepare, it also provides a real health benefit in the form of being high in fibre. This fibre is able to help lower coronary artery disease, a form of cardiovascular disease that targets the blood vessels leading to the heart, by up to nine percent (Threapleton et al., 2013). This is huge and can go a long way in helping to prevent the world's’ number one killer - cardiovascular disease (Townsend et al., 2016).
Fibre is able to do this by ‘lowering total and LDL cholesterol without unfavourably influencing HDL cholesterol’ (Mann and Truswell, 2017), meaning it lowers the damaging form of cholesterol without lowering the non-damaging form. Therefore, chucking a portion of hummus into your daily routine (, as well as a cup of oats for breakfast and a variety of whole grains and vegetables can help you easily reach the 30g daily need.
Additionally, dietary fibre feeds our gut bacteria which is converted into short chain fatty acids. These fatty acids are responsible for reducing chronic inflammation, which is a risk factor for cardiovascular disease (Slavin, 2013).
As always, this blog is provided as a public service of Evidence Based Munch (EBM) and is only intended as information. By no means is this a replacement for medical advice or dietary guidance by a dietitian. Always speak to your GP if you ever have any concerns about your health and or diet.
Ingredients
400g Chickpeas (1 tin)
The juice of 1 lemon
1 tsp garlic powder or 2 cloves
2 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
60ml tahini (sesame seed paste)
120ml water
1 tsp paprika
1 tbsp chives
Serve with 4 sliced wholemeal pitta or chopped veg
Method
Drain and rinse the chickpeas.
Combine them with the garlic, lemon juice, cumin, coriander and tahini in a mixing bowl.
Add the water and blend or mash until a smooth or chunky consistency is formed
Add spices to taste. Move mixture to serving bowl and smooth over with the back of a spoon.
Wack on some paprika and chives, serve with toasted, sliced pitta or chopped veg.
References
Mann, J. and Truswell, S. eds., 2017. Essentials of human nutrition. Oxford University Press. P396.
Slavin, J., 2013. Fiber and prebiotics: mechanisms and health benefits. Nutrients, 5(4), pp.1417-1435.
Threapleton, D.E., Greenwood, D.C., Evans, C.E., Cleghorn, C.L., Nykjaer, C., Woodhead, C., Cade, J.E., Gale, C.P. and Burley, V.J., 2013. Dietary fibre intake and risk of cardiovascular disease: systematic review and meta-analysis. Bmj, 347, p.f6879.
Townsend, N., Wilson, L., Bhatnagar, P., Wickramasinghe, K., Rayner, M. and Nichols, M., 2016. Cardiovascular disease in Europe: epidemiological update 2016. European heart journal, 37(42), pp.3232-3245.
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