# Why do beans make you fart? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 16, 2009, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-beans-make-you-fart/506630 "2009-08-16T16:45:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2009, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-beans-make-you-fart/506630/1 "2009-08-16T16:45:11Z")
Had some beans last night. Now I could power Staten Island with my natural gas. Is it just confirmation bias, or are beans really correlated with massive fartness. And if so, why? ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2009, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-beans-make-you-fart/506630/2 "2009-08-16T16:51:31Z")
Beans contain sugars we can’t digest but some of the bacteria in our small intestines can. They fart, we fart. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2009, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-beans-make-you-fart/506630/3 "2009-08-16T16:56:35Z")
> [@friedo](#): > > Had some beans last night. Now I could power Staten Island with my natural gas. Is it just confirmation bias, or are beans really correlated with massive fartness. And if so, why? If you think beans make you fart, eat some sunchokes. Good Lord they are the most flatulence-producing food known to man! ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2009, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-beans-make-you-fart/506630/4 "2009-08-16T16:57:27Z")
[Good Eats](http://www.goodeatsfanpage.com/Season3/Beans/BeansTranscript.htm) > [@](#): > > Now unfortunately, beans contain large numbers of humungous sugars called oligosaccharide. Alas, the human tool kit lacks an enzyme capable of cracking such a colossus. So, they skip the absorption step and move off to the large intestines intact. > > There, a host of voracious bacteria lay in wait for a passing meal. None of this would be particularly compelling but for one fact. You see, when they eat these bacteria get really bad gas. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2009, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-beans-make-you-fart/506630/5 "2009-08-16T17:00:20Z")
I was wrong-large intestine. From Cecil. [What exactly is a fart?](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/68/what-exactly-is-a-fart) ---
**Author:** ![Pulegone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Pulegone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pulegone)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2009, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-beans-make-you-fart/506630/6 "2009-08-16T22:12:01Z")
It’s soluble (water-fermentable) fibre that the bacteria digest. They convert it into short-chained fatty acids. Dried apricots are excellent for inducing flatulence, or so I’m reliably informed by others. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2009, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-beans-make-you-fart/506630/7 "2009-08-17T02:47:38Z")
and it is hysterical that the first things you do after major abdominal surgery is fart up a [wind]storm … As I was taught to by my mother, I pass gas I say excuse me … I got the giggles because I let go with a huge fart and excuse myself … the nurse in taking my vitals laughs and says that they like hearing the farts [it means the gut is starting to work again] I just sort of wish it would stop … 4 days and I still am gassing off … it sounds like the campfire scene in Blazing Saddles around here [didnt help matters that in an effort to make sure I get lots of fibre, extra legumes have sort of been added into the diet around here] ---
**Author:** ![janeslogin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df788c/32.png) [@janeslogin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/janeslogin)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2009, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-beans-make-you-fart/506630/8 "2009-08-18T16:53:14Z")
Many decades ago we were taught in advanced medical microbiology class that the fart in beans came from gas producing bacteria metabolizing trisaccharides. Some say the trisaccharides are near the surface of the beans and can be soaked away before cooking. Someone reported recently that about 35% of the gas in all fart was swallowed air. Some surgery people puff up the bowel by injecting gas, don’t they? (An aside, we know an old man who refused to fart in the presence of the nurse and got hauled off to the Emergency Room. Cost him an extra $300,) ---
**Author:** ![dracoi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/90db22/32.png) [@dracoi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dracoi)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2009, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-beans-make-you-fart/506630/9 "2009-08-18T17:39:54Z")
> [@janeslogin](#): > > Some say the trisaccharides are near the surface of the beans and can be soaked away before cooking. Does anyone know about this for sure? I cook beans about once a month and have noticed that soaking and thorough cooking prevents gas for me. If I skip the soaking or undercook them by a little, it’s more likely to cause problems. Canned beans never seem to cause problems for me either. But… I cook the beans in the same water I use for soaking (the only exception is if I see any evidence of dirt or grit in the soaking liquid) and I generally eat the beans in that same liquid. So I don’t think it is just an issue of washing something away from the surface. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2009, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-beans-make-you-fart/506630/10 "2009-08-18T17:46:01Z")
Then why don’t beans make me fart? ---
**Author:** ![Doug\_Bowe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/df788c/32.png) [@Doug\_Bowe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doug_Bowe)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2009, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-beans-make-you-fart/506630/11 "2009-08-18T19:37:37Z")
> [@aruvqan](#): > > and it is hysterical that the first things you do after major abdominal surgery is fart up a [wind]storm … > > As I was taught to by my mother, I pass gas I say excuse me … I got the giggles because I let go with a huge fart and excuse myself … the nurse in taking my vitals laughs and says that they like hearing the farts [it means the gut is starting to work again] > > I just sort of wish it would stop … 4 days and I still am gassing off … it sounds like the campfire scene in Blazing Saddles around here [didnt help matters that in an effort to make sure I get lots of fibre, extra legumes have sort of been added into the diet around here] I know from where you come. It won’t stop the gas, but it should take the smell out…google the word “Devrom.” ---
**Author:** ![Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/intergalactic_gladiator/32/112_2.png) [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Intergalactic_Gladiator)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2009, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-beans-make-you-fart/506630/12 "2009-08-18T19:39:20Z")
> [@janeslogin](#): > > Some surgery people puff up the bowel by injecting gas, don’t they? (An aside, we know an old man who refused to fart in the presence of the nurse and got hauled off to the Emergency Room. Cost him an extra $300,) Yep, in the recovery room after my colonoscopy (a procedure I recommend to everyone), everyone was tootin’ and blowin’ ---
**Author:** ![dangermom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e274bd/32.png) [@dangermom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dangermom)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2009, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-beans-make-you-fart/506630/13 "2009-08-18T19:53:40Z")
Yes, thorough soaking will take care of much of the fartiness problem. Also, **mahaloth** , if you eat beans regularly you’re less likely to have gas; I guess you get acclimated or something.