Can I Eat Navy Beans & Take Lisinopril?

Navy beans are a healthful addition to stews, soups, chili, casseroles and other dishes. Whether you can eat navy beans depends upon your overall health. While there is nothing to suggest that people who take lisinopril should not eat navy beans, many people who take lisinopril have conditions that make eating dried beans a dangerous choice.

Lisinopril

Lisinopril is an angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitor, better known as an ACE inhibitor. Doctors prescribe this drug to patients with high blood pressure. It works by inhibiting an enzyme that is part of a series of biochemical pathways involved in the regulation of blood pressure. Lisinopril is generally well tolerated and produces few side effects.

Other Uses

Kidney patients often take lisinopril. People with healthy kidneys have very low urine protein because the glomeruli, or kidney filters, prevent proteins from the blood from spilling into the urine. This is not true for patients with kidney disease who generally have high urine protein. Physicians often prescribe lisinopril and other ACE inhibitors to patients with high urine protein regardless of whether they have high blood pressure. The glomeruli are tiny nests of blood vessels that filter waste products from the blood. Lisinopril selectively lowers the blood pressure in the glomeruli, preventing proteins from spilling into the urine.

Advanced Kidney Disease

Patients with advanced kidney disease often have elevated levels of serum potassium and serum phosphorus. These high levels exist regardless of whether the patient takes lisinopril. Kidney patients with high levels of potassium or phosphorus are often on low-potassium and low phosphorus diets to compensate for their high serum levels of these minerals.

Potassium and Phosphorus

The National Kidney Foundation states that dried beans are high in potassium and phosphorus. As such, patients with high serum potassium or phosphorus should avoid them. The NKF defines a high-potassium food as one that has more than 200 mg of potassium. A cup of cooked navy beans has 708 mg of potassium, which more than satisfies this definition.

Conclusion

If you take lisinopril or other ACE inhibitors because you have advanced kidney disease, ask your doctor whether your potassium and phosphorus levels are normal. If these levels are too high, ask whether dietary restrictions are necessary. The National Kidney Foundation recommends that patients with advanced disease meet with a renal dietitian. This can be very helpful in meal planning and identifying safe foods to eat.