Why Beans Make You Fart and 2 Simple Ways to Stop Gassiness After Eating Them


Mixed legumesMost people know that beans make you fart. But just why do they make you so gassy?

And if you still choose to eat this otherwise healthy and nutritious food, how can you greatly minimize the amount of flatulence they cause?

Why Do Beans Give You Bad Gas?

Beans are high in fiber and loaded with vegetable protein. They are also low in fat and contain minerals like magnesium, calcium, phosphorus, potassium, copper, and zinc.

Varieties like pinto, navy, great northern, red kidney and black beans are an excellent source of B vitamins, particularly folate and B1.

Canned baked beans also contain some B vitamins, though they do have much more sodium and bisphenol A from plastic can linings may be an issue.

All kinds of  legumes are rich in soluble fiber, which is considered beneficial for digestive wellness and preventing constipation. Unfortunately, it’s this same soluble fiber that’s also behind the stomach gas, belly rumbling and excessive wind when you eat them.

The way beans make you fart starts with oligosaccharides they contain, such as raffinose and stachyose. These indigestible carbohydrates are not absorbed in your small intestine during digestion. Instead they pass through to your large intestine intact.

While the digestive processes of the small intestine cannot break down oligosaccharides, the bacteria in your colon thrive on them. And they produce large amounts of hydrogen, nitrogen and carbon dioxide gases through bacterial fermentation.

Eating foods high in raffinose and other oligosaccharides usually leads to an increase in gas-causing bacteria in your lower intestine. And a corresponding increase in bloating, farting and other symptoms of gassiness.Windiness from eating baked beans

Which Varieties of Legumes Cause the Most Bloating and Gassiness?

Chickpeas, soybeans, navy beans, pinto, black and red kidney beans are commonly ranked as the most gassy types of legumes. Scientific studies confirm that these varieties are all high in indigestible oligosaccharides like raffinose and stachyose.

By comparison, adzuki beans, black-eyed peas and lentils are listed as some of the least gassy legumes due to their lower oligosaccharide content. Even these types will make you windy though if eaten in anything more than a small serving.

Can You Have Beans Without Farting?

Soaking dried legumes overnight, or for at least 12 hours before cooking them can greatly reduce the amount of gas-causing oligosaccharides they contain, as well as mineral-binding phytates.

If you prepare them like this then remember to drain out the water you’ve soaked them in. Then boil them in fresh water. Ideally add some gas-combating fennel seeds or fresh ginger near the end of cooking to further improve their digestibility.

You can’t soak canned baked beans though and many people want a more convenient option than overnight soaking before cooking legumes like lentils and chickpeas.

The reason why people have problems digesting legumes is that we lack the alpha-galactosidase enzyme in our digestive tract. This enzyme breaks down indigestible oligosaccharides into smaller components so they can be digested.

For many years, people have taken a product called Beano, which contains supplemental alpha-galactosidase to help reduce gassiness from beans.

Now there’s a new option called BeanAssist. It contains a similar amount of alpha-galactosidase, but is much less and isn’t made with fish gelatin, so it can be used by vegetarians or vegans.

How to Stop Baked Beans Making You Gassy

Using alpha-galactosidase supplements like BeanAssist is the easiest way to avoid bloating and farting when you eat baked beans and other foods high in oligosaccharides.

The directions recommend taking one capsule at the same time as any meals containing beans, chickpeas, lentils or other legumes. If you are already experiencing belly bloat or bad gas after eating them then it’s too late. Take them with your meal for effective results.

You can also prevent gassiness from other oligosaccharide-rich vegetables, such as cabbage, mushrooms or broccoli, by take a capsule of alpha-galactosidase when you eat them. It’s a simple solution to keep on hand whenever you want to enjoy these kinds of foods without farting.

Legumes aren’t the only type of food that makes you fart. There are many other causes of flatulence, such as poor digestion from eating too fast, the lactose in milk, high fructose foods, low stomach acid or digestive enzymes, and even coffee or soda interfering with digestion. Fixes for all of these digestive issues are covered on this site.

For beans and legumes though, as well as other gas causing vegetables high in oligosaccharides, using this simple solution is the easiest way to enjoy them without the gassiness.

Click Here to Leave a Comment Below 20 comments
Chris

Hello – what I don’t understand is why eating beans can lead to you starting farting as soon as 20 minutes later – far quicker than you would expect either the proteins or gas to travel through the digestive system.

Reply
    James Dillan

    Hi Chris,

    That is quick. If the gas is indeed related to the recently eaten beans then possibly the small intestine has had a strong reaction to the raffinose in the beans, rejected it and evacuated it to the large intestine where it quickly arrives in larger than normal amounts.

    Usually it would take much longer before a person gets a bad gas reaction from eating beans.

    All the best,

    James

    Reply
sports authority

Some really superb information, Gladiola I noticed this.

Reply
Eric

I went away this weekend and had been at the hotel for two morning till I relazies I haven’t put black pepper on my baked beans this stop me passing wind when I eat baked beans . So my partner been complaining

Eric

Reply
Errin

Throwing a thumb-sized strip of kombu (a sea vegetable that can be found in Asian markets and health food stores) in with the beans as they are cooking helps *tremendously*. Evidently kombu contains the enzyme that the human digestive system lacks to break down starches. Hooray for bean lovers!

Reply
    Jim

    Thanks for your comments Errin. That’s good information on kombu for beans.

    All the best,

    Jim

    Reply
Lionel

I’m confused, I eat many cans of beans with no farting at all, is this actually facts?

Reply
    Jim

    Hi Lionel,

    That’s unusual and not the case for most people.

    All the best,

    Jim

    Reply
smoki

I have been drinking lemon water first thing early mornings for over a month now. I have this gas causing problem in my stomach and has made me loose my confidence. It is a big hit for me at work place and social life. Please help me deal with this problem. I am vegetarian. I have approached a gastroenterologist and he said it is natural there is no such medicine to overcome this. I was advised to stay calm and stress free. I am sure thats not the only factor there is something definitely wrong.

Reply
    James

    Hi there,

    Lemon water or apple cider vinegar just before a meal can also help with digestion. It’s likely you have a few too many gas causing vegetables in your diet https://flatulencecures.com/vegetables-that-cause-gas

    Try to concentrate on low gas vegetables instead for a week like carrots, celery, tomatoes, bell peppers, cucumbers, olives, spinach, Swiss chard, parsley, zucchini, eggplant and butternut squash. Once the excessive gas subsides you can reintroduce gas forming vegetables from the link one at a time and see your reaction to them.

    Hope this helps,

    James

    Reply
Brad Washburn

What’s wrong with farting? This is why I eat beans!

Reply
mau

Soaking dried beans is essential before cooking anyway, unless you have a gut made of iron. They always say to soak them overnight, which is roughly about 6 or 7 hours. So you could do this during a day when you’re around: A trick I learned a long time ago is to change the soaking water about once an hour. It really does help cut the gas-making down!

Reply
    James

    Hi there and thanks for your comment.

    Changing the water each hour to reduce the gas causing compounds is a good idea.

    All the best,

    Jim

    Reply
    chris

    I tried using bread yeast in warm water to soak the beans in. I allowed them to soak for 3 hours before draining and rinsing the beans before I cooked them. This reduced the gas and set the beans up for a perfect texture once cooked.
    An added step is to have some yogurt before or shortly after the meal.
    The added assistance to help break down the carbohydrates before the beans get into your system really seems to help.
    Normally I get very gassy from the beans and end up ,out of consideration to my wife, sleeping in another room due to the gasses that escape. :(

    Reply
    James

    Hi Chris and thanks for the new method of reducing gas from beans. I hadn’t heard of using bread yeast like this before. Fennel seeds are also effective too https://flatulencecures.com/using-fennel-seeds-gas-cramps-bloating

    All the best,

    Jim

    Reply
Janis

I would like a solution instead of a pill if possible.

Reply
    James

    Hi Janis. This new article has more details on vegetables that cause gas like beans and how to minimize flatulence when eating them https://flatulencecures.com/vegetables-that-cause-gas

    All the best

    Reply
    Dustin

    The pill isn’t bad for you, it is just an enzyme which allows it to be processed.

    Reply
azam

Hi,
On flatulence you provided good and useful infos.I have two querries regarding this very issue.
First,I observed two type of people one ok with beans and other having problem with beans.So those who are ok with beans why they are so mean why beans dont produce gases either they have alpha galactosidase or some other gases alleviating system and for other people vice versa.
second,humans have been using beans for thousands years,and hopefully with aforesaid probs,why should we use an enzyme which naturally lacking our bodies to degrade problem causing oligosaccharides(pls dont confuse its use like other medicines foreign to our bodies),how to justify its use,is not it an interference to natural mechanism?
cheers,

Reply
    James

    Hi Azam and thanks for your questions.

    From my research humans don’t produce the alpha galactosidase at all and bacterial fermentation in the lower intestine would always have been the way beans and other legumes were broken down. It’s likely a healthier digestive system simply deals with oligosaccharides more effectively but there is still likely to be extra gas, even if it isn’t particularly smelly.

    As to using digestive enzymes, there are many different substances that people eat in modern foods and our overworked digestive tracts can probably use all the help they can get unless someone has a particularly healthy natural diet.

    All the best.

    Reply

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