# Why do beans cause flatulence? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 23, 2000, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-beans-cause-flatulence/10885 "2000-04-23T02:30:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Breckinshire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/71c47a/32.png) [@Breckinshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Breckinshire)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2000, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-beans-cause-flatulence/10885/1 "2000-04-23T02:30:00Z")
First of all, let me say that I am most emphatically NOT a troll. Afterall, note my use of the word “flatulence” rather than fart, cut the cheese, ride the stinky train, etc. I am just a curious guy. But not a troll. * * * - Blessed are the Fundamentalists, for they shall inhibit the earth. \* ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2000, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-beans-cause-flatulence/10885/2 "2000-04-23T02:51:00Z")
From [Not just a hill of beans](http://www.naturalland.com/nv/nn/bns.htm): > [@](#): > > What’s not so hot about this good hot-or-cold food? Beans are moderately high in purines (thus off-limits for gout sufferers), can trigger migraines or rashes for some people, and cause flatulence because of the three sugars they contain: raffinose, stachyose, and verbacose, which the body cannot break down or absorb as is. Thus, instead of being digested and absorbed in the small intestine like other sugars, they’re passed along to the large intestine. There, bacteria break down and ferment them, producing carbon dioxide, hydrogen, and other gases as byproducts. The Rx? Soak well. For best results, use 9 cups of water for every cup of beans. (Soaking in cold water removes 2% of the sugars.) Four to five hours does the trick. Then, to make up for lost time, use a pressure cooker. By the way, beano works because it contains an enzyme that allows us to break down the otherwise difficult-to-digest carbohydrates (oligosaccharides). * * * Work is the curse of the drinking classes. (Oscar Wilde) ---
**Author:** ![Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/96bed5/32.png) [@Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patty_O_Furniture)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2000, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-beans-cause-flatulence/10885/3 "2000-04-23T02:55:00Z")
From page 80 of The Straight Dope (the first book): [quote] …The noble bean, for instance, contains complex sugars that can not be broken down by the body’s digestive juices. Upon arriving in the colon, these sugars are set upon vigorously by the resident microbes, and the resultant fermentation produces the cheerful calliope effect celebrated in such cinematic masterworks as _Blazing Saddles_… * * * The Sony model STRA-V1010 is a good stereotype. ---
**Author:** ![Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/96bed5/32.png) [@Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patty_O_Furniture)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2000, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-beans-cause-flatulence/10885/4 "2000-04-23T02:57:00Z")
um… [/quote] . Whatever. * * * The Sony model STRA-V1010 is a good stereotype. ---
**Author:** ![Anti\_Pro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Anti\_Pro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anti_Pro)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2000, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-beans-cause-flatulence/10885/5 "2000-04-23T05:19:00Z")
- Thanks for the question, Breckinshire! \* Beans have never affected me with gas, while I have a friend that can really clear a room, BUT, I’ve always gotten horrible headaches, so I don’t eat beans for \* that reason \* never knowing that bean consumption and the headaches were connected! Ha! Learn something new practically every other day!