Green peas: a legume that gets served as a vegetable

Green peas are a legume that arrives on the plate as a vegetable, and almost everything we can show you about them was measured in studies of legumes as a group rather than of peas on their own. One human trial worked through six to ten local legumes, and every legume it tested scored as a low glycaemic food, from 6 for chickpeas to 13 for mung beans, on a scale where anything under 55 counts as low. Green peas were among the legumes in that work, and the published summary gives no separate number for them. Protein is the other tested thing. Thirty six men ate a meal built to deliver 30 g of protein as green peas, and over three hours five essential amino acids rose in the blood as much as they did after soft cheese, while the branched-chain ones stayed lower than cheese. What that trial watched was how much of the amino acids turned up in the blood within three hours. How much of the protein the body held on to is a different question, and it was never measured. Thirty grams of protein as peas is a large bowl, well past a side serving, so that result tells you what peas can do at a high dose rather than what a spoonful does. We have no USDA entry for green peas in this cohort, so this page carries no composition numbers of its own to set beside those trials.

How much is actually in it

• Green pea tempe, a fermented product and not raw or boiled green peas, carried the highest measured concentration of meglutol among the foods screened, 21.8 mg per 100 g. — food samples analysed by gas chromatography and mass spectrometry. The human arm is a separate cross-sectional analysis of 1628 Hispanic adults, where the exposure was plasma meglutol and not green peas (n = 1628 in the human arm) Evidence C source
  Food analysis: 21.8 ± 4.6 mg meglutol per 100 g in green pea tempe, the highest of the foods screened. Separate cross-sectional analysis in 1628 adults: each 1 SD of meglutol already circulating in plasma associated with LDL lower by 5.5 mg/dl (SE 1.6, P = 0.0005), with no pea intake measured

What your body absorbs

• A test meal giving 30 g of protein as green peas raised five essential amino acids in the blood over 3 hours as much as soft cheese did, which measures what appeared in plasma rather than protein the body retained. — 36 men on a stable diet for 3 days and a 12 hour overnight fast, randomised to one of three iso-protein test meals, blood at 0, 30, 90 and 180 minutes (n = 36) Evidence B source
  Histidine, phenylalanine, threonine, lysine and tryptophan comparable between groups (p > 0.05) in plasma over 3 hours, branched-chain amino acids higher for cheese than peas (p < 0.05)
• In work that studied six to ten local legumes, every legume tested scored as a low glycaemic index food, from 6 for chickpeas to 13 for mung beans, and the abstract gives no separate value for green peas. — the abstract states that six to ten local legumes were studied, green peas among them. Human subjects with and without diabetes for the glycaemic index arm, plus subjects with moderately raised cholesterol for the lipid arm (n = not stated in the abstract) Evidence B source
  Glycaemic index below 55 for every legume tested, from 6 for chickpeas to 13 for mung beans, with no value reported for green peas

What it does to your health

• Among 504 adults with type 2 diabetes in Iran, higher green pea intake went with slightly lower diastolic blood pressure, a correlation of -0.092 (P = 0.039). — 504 adults aged 35 to 70 with type 2 diabetes for at least two years, Sabzevar Persian Cohort, 148 item food frequency questionnaire (n = 504) Evidence C source
  Correlation of green pea intake with diastolic pressure R = -0.092, P = 0.039

Safety, limits and interactions

• Allergy to green pea is documented in a United States paediatric case series, and the authors state that no prevalence data for pea allergy in the country exist. — six children with allergic reactions to foods containing green peas or pea protein (n = 6) Evidence D source
  Case series, no risk estimate available
• In one reported infant with Down syndrome and severe food protein induced enterocolitis, green peas set off symptoms and were removed from the diet alongside soy, milk and egg yolk. — one 20 month old girl with Down syndrome and milk and soy induced enterocolitis syndrome (n = 1) Evidence D source
  Symptoms after ingesting green peas and miso, elimination of peas advised

Who this works differently for

• In 1026 pregnant women in Tehran, green pea, counted among starchy vegetables, showed no association with gestational diabetes, while the separate legume group, eaten at least 3.3 servings a week before pregnancy, went with 62 percent lower odds. — 1026 pregnant women aged 18 to 45 in five Tehran hospitals, diet recorded at 6 weeks of gestation or earlier, green pea classified with starchy vegetables rather than with legumes (n = 1026) Evidence C source
  Starchy vegetables including green pea not significant. Legumes, a different food group in the same study, OR 0.38 (95% CI 0.19 to 0.74). 6.9 percent developed gestational diabetes

The bottom line

The most striking number we found is about a different food. Green pea tempe, peas fermented the way soybeans are, carried 21.8 mg of meglutol per 100 g, the highest of the foods screened in that work. That figure belongs to the fermented product, not to raw or boiled peas, which were not measured. The cholesterol part of the same paper looked at meglutol already circulating in 1628 adults, where each standard deviation went with LDL lower by 5.5 mg/dl. Nobody fed anybody pea tempe and then watched their LDL, and plain peas are a different product from a fermented one. What we have on health is observational and small. Among 504 Iranian adults who had lived with type 2 diabetes for at least two years, higher green pea intake went with slightly lower diastolic blood pressure, a correlation of -0.092 at P = 0.039. That is a faint signal across a population and nothing a person would feel. In 1026 pregnant women in Tehran, 6.9 percent developed gestational diabetes, and green pea, counted in that study among starchy vegetables, showed no association with it at all. The legume group in the same study did show one: women who ate legumes at least 3.3 servings a week before pregnancy had 62 percent lower odds. One food, two classifications, two answers, and the disagreement is itself part of what is known. On who should be careful, our evidence is one child. A 20 month old girl with Down syndrome and food protein induced enterocolitis reacted to green peas, and peas came out of her diet along with soy, milk and egg yolk. A separate case series describes six American children who reacted to peas or to pea protein, and its authors say outright that no prevalence data for pea allergy exist in the country. So pea allergy is real and documented, we cannot tell you how common it is, and a single case report cannot give you a rate that applies to you. If peas have ever made a child of yours ill, that belongs with your paediatrician. Several things you would reasonably want here are missing. We have no data on what boiling, steaming, canning or freezing does to what is in a pea, nothing on what a normal portion looks like in a real diet, and nothing from the American or European registers of health claims. Those are holes in what we have searched so far. They are not evidence that peas are harmless, and they are not evidence against them either.

Sources

1. gpea-r5-04 · metabolomics plus cross-sectional
   Green pea tempe was identified to contain the highest meglutol concentration (21.8 ± 4.6 mg/100 g).
   Food Chem, 2024 · checked 2026-09-23
2. gpea-r5-01 · RCT acute
   Although branched-chain-amino-acids (leucine/isoleucine, valine) increased significantly by Mankai within 3 h (p < 0.05 vs. baseline), the change was relatively higher for cheese as compared to Mankai or peas (p < 0.05 between groups).
   Clin Nutr, 2019 · checked 2026-09-23
3. gpea-r5-02 · RCT crossover
   Legumes are low-GI foods ( < 55), ranging from 6 (chickpeas) to 13 (mung beans).
   Br J Nutr, 2010 · checked 2026-09-23
4. gpea-r5-03 · cross-sectional
   Green peas intake was also inversely associated with DBP (R = -0.092, P = 0.039).
   PLoS One, 2025 · checked 2026-09-23
5. gpea-r5-05 · case series
   Allergy to legumes, specifically to green pea and dun pea, have been emerging. There is currently no data on pea allergy in the United States.
   J Allergy Clin Immunol Glob, 2023 · checked 2026-09-23
6. gpea-r5-06 · case report
   After discharge, she exhibited an FPIES symptom as a consequence of ingesting green peas and miso; hence, we recommended the elimination of peas, in addition to soy, milk, and egg yolk, from her diet.
   JMA J, 2025 · checked 2026-09-23
7. gpea-r5-07 · prospective cohort
   There was no significant association with the consumption of total starchy or other starchy vegetables with GDM.
   Diabetes Res Clin Pract, 2018 · checked 2026-09-23