The consumption of dry beans has been demonstrated to reduce the incidence of breast cancer in a new animal studies.

Researchers at Colorado State University fed dry bean powder to a number of rats that were in a standard preclinical model for breast cancer.

There were six types of beans used in the study: small red, great northern, navy, black, dark red and white kidney.

At the end of the research, the scientists found that consuming all types of dry beans reduced cancer incidence in the animals, as well as decreasing the number of tumors per animal, in comparison with a control group.

To follow up on these findings, the same team is looking into the mechanisms and molecules behind the effect of dry beans, as well as investigating whether bean consumption is linked to cancer incidence in human subjects.

Previous research has found that legumes are also good for your heart. A study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine revealed that people who consumed legumes four times a week lowered their risk for heart disease by 22 percent.