By Reed Mangels, PhD, RD
Over the years, we’ve gotten emails that sound something like this: “I’d like to eat more beans but … I get a lot of gas/I feel bloated/I have uncomfortable cramping.” While some people experience an increase in gas production when they eat beans, it varies from person to person.
Beans contain a type of carbohydrate that humans can’t digest. This
carbohydrate moves through our intestinal tract and is fermented by bacteria in
our large intestine. The result of this fermentation is gas. Beans aren’t the
only food known to cause gas production. The list is long and includes
vegetables in the cabbage family, sorbitol (a sugar substitute), carbonated
beverages, and bran. Individuals may be
aware of other foods that are triggers for them.
Some of these foods, like sorbitol and carbonated beverages, are easily avoided. Beans, however, are a significant part of many vegans’ diets. Fortunately, there are ways that you can reduce the effects of beans.
If you’ve abruptly increased the amount of beans that you eat, take a step back. Start with ½ cup of beans a day and after several weeks, add another ½ cup, gradually finding the amount that you can tolerate.
Try experimenting with different types of beans – lentils, chickpeas, and split peas are often said to be less gas-producing although this varies from person to person.
If you cook beans from scratch, soak them overnight and discard the soaking water. A lot of the indigestible carbohydrates end up in the soaking water so that discarding it, reduces the amount of “food” for intestinal bacteria to ferment. Adding a tiny pinch of baking soda to the water when you cook beans can also help reduce their indigestible carbohydrate content.
Take a look at your eating habits. I’ve found that gulping down a bean burrito or quickly eating a bowl of lentil soup when I’m stressed leaves me with a bellyache that I don’t get when I slow down and eat in a more relaxed way.
Try keeping food records – writing down what you ate and how you feel. You may find that you can tolerate beans by themselves but not beans with a big plate of cabbage. Or maybe every time you’ve had serious gas, you had eaten a large apple or drank black coffee on an empty stomach. Your food record will help you to see more about the ways that the foods you eat and drink affect the way you feel.
If your diet is especially high fiber, try cutting down on fiber a bit – eat more cooked and fewer raw foods – and see if that helps.
Avoid notorious gas triggers like carbonated beverages, drinking from a straw, chewing gum, eating rapidly, using sorbitol or other sugar alcohols.
Of course, if you’ve been able to eat beans without their having much of an effect and suddenly find yourself with a great deal of gas or cramping after eating an amount of beans you used to tolerate, it’s worth contacting your health care provider. Sometimes this type of change in food tolerance can be symptomatic of another issue. Additionally, some research suggests that aging could result in a reduced ability to handle the indigestible carbohydrates found in beans.