Edamame Nutrition Facts and Health Benefits

Edamame is a green soybean frequently served in its pod and sprinkled with sea salt. These beans are a rich source of vegetable protein that also packs a hefty amount of fiber, essential vitamins, and minerals. In addition, research shows that consuming soy protein might help to lower your cholesterol and even reduce the risk of certain cancers.

Although some concerns have been raised about the potential adverse health effects of eating vast amounts of soy, nutritional experts agree that soy—including edamame—is safe when consumed in average quantities. The FDA has established that reductions in coronary heart disease are seen when at least 25 grams of soy protein are consumed along with a low saturated fat and cholesterol diet. Therefore, you shouldn't hesitate to add edamame to your diet.

Nutrition Facts

The following nutrition information is provided by the USDA for one cup (155g) of shelled edamame pods.

Carbs

Edamame, a legume, is lower in carbohydrates than many other legumes. One cup of shelled, steamed edamame contains almost 14 grams of carbs. That's compared to 40 grams of carbs for a cup of cooked lentils or kidney beans and 45 grams for a cup of boiled garbanzo beans.

Edamame can be recommended for people with diabetes because it's very low in sugar (just 3.4 grams per cooked cup of shelled beans). It is also high in fiber and protein to slow glucose absorption into the blood and prevent sugar spikes. In addition, people following a low-carb diet can eat edamame because it's so low in carbs, especially when compared to other beans.

Edamame also shines regarding fiber—one cup of shelled and cooked edamame offers 8 grams of fiber, or about one-third of the recommended daily fiber allotment. The daily value (DV) used for food labels and set by the FDA recommends 28 grams of fiber per day.

Fats

One cup of cooked edamame contains 8 grams of fat, which is considered low-fat. Of that, only 1 gram is saturated fat (you should limit your intake of saturated fats to no more than about 12 grams per day).

Most of the rest of edamame's fat content comes from "good" monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats. One cup of steamed, shelled edamame contains about 3.4 grams of polyunsaturated fat, mainly in omega-6 essential fatty acids. Edamame also has a small amount of omega-3 fatty acid, another polyunsaturated fat. Polyunsaturated fats may help reduce your so-called "bad" LDL cholesterol, especially when these healthy fats replace saturated or trans fats. This may then lead to a reduction in your risk of heart disease.

That same one cup of edamame contains about 2 grams of monounsaturated fat, which, alongside polyunsaturated fat, also may help you reduce your LDL cholesterol levels.

Protein

Edamame is a protein powerhouse: a cup of boiled, shelled edamame pods contains around 18.4  grams of protein. In addition, soy protein is a high-quality protein, similar to animal protein, because it has all nine essential amino acids. This is why people who follow a vegetarian or vegan diet often eat plenty of soy, including edamame.

In addition, about one-third of the calories in edamame come from protein, with an additional one-third from carbs and the last third from fats. That makes edamame a well-balanced food to include in your diet.

Vitamins and Minerals

Edamame features plenty of micronutrients, especially magnesium and vitamin C. One cup of cooked, shelled edamame contains:

• 20% of your daily iron requirement
• 11% of your daily vitamin C needs
• 8% of the calcium you need daily

In addition, edamame offers almost 14% of your daily potassium needs, plus trace amounts of copper, zinc, phosphorus, riboflavin, niacin, and vitamin K.

You can't equate edamame's nutritional profile to the nutrients in regular soybeans, soy flour, or tofu. That's because edamame is harvested as young soybeans, not mature soybeans, and it has different amounts of micronutrients than the mature soybeans used to make tofu and soy protein. Edamame has significantly more vitamin K, manganese, and folate than mature soybeans but contains less iron and copper.

Also, the vitamins and minerals contained in edamame may vary based on where the plants are grown.

Finally, edamame has very high levels of soy isoflavones, compounds in many plants. Isoflavones often are referred to as "natural estrogens" because they can behave like the female hormone estrogen in your body. They also may be protective against hormone-dependent cancers, osteoporosis, type 2 diabetes, and cardiovascular disease and help relieve symptoms from menopause. Edamame and other soy products include three main isoflavones: genistein, daidzein, and glycitein.

Steamed edamame contains around 28 milligrams per cup in a total of isoflavones, which is 20 percent more phytoestrogen than cooked mature soybeans. Still, edamame contains significantly less phytoestrogen than mature, sprouted soybean seeds, which have upwards of 53 milligrams of isoflavones per cup, according to the United States Department of Agriculture.

Calories

Edamame contains 188 calories in a cup (155g) of shelled pods. A total of 37% of calories come from protein, 36% from fat, and 27% come from carbs.

Health Benefits

Edamame, as a good source of soy protein, may help you reduce your risk for several health conditions, including high cholesterol and high blood pressure. The evidence for positive health effects in other conditions, including bone health, breast cancer, and prostate cancer, is less clear.

Helps Balance Cholesterol

A 2019 cumulative meta-analysis of 46 clinical trials conducted by the Journal of the American Heart Association concluded that soy consumption is associated with significant reductions in total cholesterol and bad cholesterol (LDL) with similar reductions to a statin (lovastatin) at 30%.

Foods containing 25 grams of soy protein or more may reduce your cholesterol, according to the United States Food and Drug Administration. To reach this level, you'll have to eat about a cup and a half of cooked, shelled edamame per day. This amount may lower your so-called "bad" LDL cholesterol by about 3% or 4%—a modest benefit, but every little bit helps.

A cup and a half of edamame is a lot to eat in a day, but there are plenty of ways to add edamame to your diet. For example, try this crispy baked edamame recipe as a snack to munch on between meals or when you're watching a game.

Helps Control Blood Pressure

There's some medical evidence that diets high in protein may lower blood pressure, and soy protein, in particular, seems to help especially when it replaces carbohydrates. Research shows that higher soy consumption may lower blood pressure.

However, studies haven't uncovered how this works, and more research is needed before doctors can say definitively that edamame and other soy products can lower your blood pressure. In addition, none of the studies looked specifically at edamame, although they did look at soy products that contain the same compounds, such as isoflavones.

Boosts Bone Health and Osteoporosis

You need to build strong bones to guard against fractures and to keep you mobile. This is especially important as you age—your risk increases for an osteoporosis-related fracture as you get older. 

A diet very high in soy protein, including the types of soy protein found in edamame, is associated with good markers of bone health in some medical research. For post-menopausal bone loss, soy isoflavones may help prevent bone loss leading to osteoporosis.

However, researchers have not found a cause-and-effect relationship between bone health and higher intakes of soy protein, and they haven't looked specifically at edamame's effects on bone health and osteoporosis. So you shouldn't solely rely on eating edamame to keep your bones strong; make sure to get plenty of calcium and to work out, especially with weight-bearing exercises. Nutrients found in some bone health supplements, including vitamin D, vitamin K, magnesium, and zinc, also may be beneficial.

Eases Symptoms of Menopause

Japanese women seem to suffer from fewer menopausal symptoms—specifically hot flashes—than women in the United States and in other countries. A higher soy intake, which includes a substantial amount of estrogen-like isoflavones, may be one reason for this. Therefore, researchers have explored whether soy protein can help with hot flashes. 

Although results from various studies have been inconsistent, a large analysis of the research done on this topic indicates that soy isoflavone supplements can help to reduce hot flashes in women around the time of menopause. However, these studies weren't conducted with edamame; instead, they used isoflavones extracted from soybeans.

Therefore, you can't assume that eating edamame will help you with hot flashes.

May Help Prevent Cancer

People who live in countries (specifically in Asia) where soy intake is high have lower rates of breast cancer and prostate cancer, medical studies show. In addition, when you compare only people in those countries, those who have a higher soy intake seem to have lower rates of breast and prostate cancer. Consuming soy may help prevent colorectal and rectal cancer, especially for women who are post-menopausal.

Allergies

Edamame is another name for young soybeans, so anyone who is allergic to soy should also avoid edamame and any dishes made with edamame. Symptoms of soy allergy include itching and facial swelling, along with difficulty breathing in severe cases. If you experience any of those symptoms after eating edamame, seek immediate medical care.

Pure soy products, including edamame, are gluten-free. Therefore, you should be able to have edamame if you have celiac disease or non-celiac gluten sensitivity. However, you always need to be careful to avoid gluten cross-contamination with soy products.

Adverse Effects

Some people experience flatulence and bloating when they eat edamame, especially if the edamame hasn't been thoroughly cooked. If you find you have this problem, try cooking your bean pods for longer next time, and perhaps eat fewer of them. 

Varieties

There are several varieties of edamame. You are more likely to see heirlooms and specialty varieties at farmer's markets. You can find both fresh and frozen edamame at many grocery stores as shelled and in-the-pod options.

Storage and Food Safety

Edamame can be stored in the fridge or frozen, either shelled or still in the pod. If stored in the fridge in an airtight container, edamame should last about a week. Don't consume edamame that is slimy, moldy, or smells off.

How to Prepare

To cook edamame, you simply need to steam it for five to 10 minutes, either on the stovetop or in the microwave. It's generally steamed in its pods (which contain one to four beans each), but you also can steam the shelled beans without the pods. Traditionally, it's served in the pods and sprinkled with sea salt.