Yokan is a Japanese dessert of adzuki beans, sugar, and agar. Per 100 g: 260 kcal, 0 g sugar. That puts it in the sweets bracket despite the bean base. A NHANES analysis (Yang et al., JAMA Intern Med 2014) found 25%+ of calories from sugar linked to 2.75× CVD mortality. Treat it as a treat, not a pulse serving.
How should I track Yokan, prepared from adzuki beans and sugar?
When tracking Yokan, prepared from adzuki beans and sugar, the dry-vs-cooked distinction is critical. Legumes absorb roughly 2–3 times their weight in water during soaking and cooking, so 100 g dry becomes 250–300 g cooked. Always check which form the nutrition values refer to. A meta-analysis of 43 RCTs (Reid-McCann et al., Nutr Rev 2025) found plant protein matches dairy for muscle outcomes — so tracking precision matters just as much here. If you use canned legumes, drain and rinse to reduce sodium by about 40%. Weigh on a kitchen scale for the most reliable count.