The health benefits of peas – and why you should eat them raw

Vitamin-rich and good for your gut health, here’s why the Queen’s favourite snack is so good for you

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Is there any food more English than the humble garden pea? Most of us have fond memories of shelling them with family in the spring, or shovelling them down as the healthy side-kick to many a favourite meal – fish and chips, chicken pies or a hearty pasta or risotto.
No wonder then that they’re the Queen’s favourite snack: she told Hello! magazine this week that between meals she most enjoys a handful of fresh peas straight from the ground. “If you take them straight from the pod they are delicious and really sweet,” she says. “I take all my grandchildren down to the garden and they spend hours and hours eating peas.”
The best thing about garden peas being a staple on the plates of adults and children alike “is that they’re so easy to add to any meal”, says Rob Hobson, a nutritionist and the author of Unprocess Your Family Life.
“If you’re someone who wants to eat more vegetables then peas are the ideal place to start,” says Hobson. “You don’t have to chop them or peel them, and in a lot of recipes, like a pasta or a salad, you don’t even need to boil them – you can add them straight into the pan,” he adds. What you’re having with your peas is important, he says, but “they can make any meal healthier, even a pile of fried rice from a Chinese takeaway”.
Even out of season, when garden peas are most easily found in the frozen section of a supermarket, these tiny legumes are still delicious and good for you, too. Freshly plucked, frozen, dried or even tinned in a pinch. “Whatever way you get them, they’re going to be very good for you,” Hobson says.
Here are all of the health powers of the garden pea – bundles of vitamins, minerals, protein and fibre included – and exactly how you should be eating them to feel their benefits.
When they’re in season, between May and August, “peas fresh from your own garden are going to be the best for your health”, says Hobson. “Flash freezing preserves the nutritional content of most vegetables very well, but peas are usually blanched before they’re frozen, meaning you lose some of the vitamin C and folate in them.”
Though given the nutritional profile of the garden pea, a slight loss of vitamins “shouldn’t be a huge concern”, Hobson says. Peas contain vitamin A and a variety of B vitamins, as well as vitamins C, E and K, which is rarer and harder to get into your diet.
“Vitamin K is essential for bone health and making sure that your blood clots properly,” says Hobson. “Peas are a really good source of this,” he explains, with just a four tablespoon serving containing half the recommended intake of vitamin K per day.
A 100g serving of peas contains around 5g of fibre, a sixth of the amount needed in your diet per day. Also, peas of any kind are “higher in protein than most other green vegetables”, Hobson says, at 6g of protein to 100g of peas. They’re also “a useful source of iron, which many people, and women especially, do not get enough of in their diets”.
Having a bag of frozen peas to hand is a good way to make sure that you’re eating a full serving size of them. “In Britain, we describe a portion of vegetables as being 80g, or about five tablespoons,” Hobson says – not heaps on your plate, but a lot to shell by hand.
Less advantageous are tinned peas, which, while still containing a good amount of fibre and protein, “will be less nutritious” as water-soluble vitamins, such as vitamin C and B vitamins, can leech out into the water in the tin.
This is another reason why, if you’re preparing a roast, “you shouldn’t over boil your peas or leave them to soak in a big pan with your other vegetables”, says Hobson.
Meanwhile, tinned mushy peas can contain so many added chemicals (as well a gram and a half of salt to each can) that they can be called an ultra-processed food, the type linked to increased rates of heart disease and digestion in people with heavily processed diets.
“This is the only kind of pea that I would recommend people think twice about eating, or eat only occasionally,” Hobson says.
“Peas are classed as a starchy vegetable, like potatoes,” says Hobson. While this means that peas contain more carbohydrates per gram than kale or broccoli, this is no bad thing for your health.
Along with their high fibre content, the amylose in peas (a component of starch found in grains and potatoes) can help people to manage their blood sugar levels – contrary to other kinds of carbohydrates, which can raise blood sugar.
Both the fibres and proteins found in starch are especially beneficial, says Hobson. Peas are a source of complete protein, containing all of the amino acids that your body needs, which is rarely found in vegetables.
The tiny green legume also contains “both insoluble fibre, which bulks up your stools and helps to keep you regular and prevent constipation, and soluble fibre, which slows your digestion and helps to regulate blood sugar levels and keep you feel fuller for longer”.
Garden peas also contain a high concentration of coumestrol, a compound that mimics oestrogen in the body once digested and has been linked to bone density retention as we age, and even to a reduced risk of stomach cancer.
And while peas might not be as trendy as kefir or kombucha, they too contain prebiotics – compounds that improve digestion and help your body to absorb more minerals – making them excellent for your gut health, too.
Peas can be tricky for very young and very old people to eat, Hobson says, “but this just means that you’re best serving them to children or older family members with something like mash that they can stick to”. Whether chewed or eaten whole, “the nutritional benefits of peas will be much the same”.
Peas do also contain phytates, “which can reduce your body’s ability to absorb certain minerals like iron and zinc”, Hobson says. “But this is not a problem if you are eating a balanced diet with other nutritious foods, which would offset this effect.”
The only good reason not to add more peas to your diet, says Hobson, is if you have IBS or another digestive condition and are following the Fodmap diet, which makes it necessary to avoid short-chain carbohydrates (of which peas contain a large amount).
“Peas contain compounds called galacto-oligosaccharides and fructans, which are fermentable carbohydrates that can be hard for people with IBS [irritable bowel syndrome] or other sensitivities to digest,” Hobson says. “But if you’re fortunate enough not to have IBS, eating peas can only be good for you.”
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