Beans Intake: How to Cope with Associated Increase in Farts

Beans are generally recognized as a good source of protein but mostly overlooked for its rich content of fiber, minerals, and vitamins. For example, a one-cup serving of cooked navy beans may pack up to 20 grams of fiber and 354 milligrams of potassium with little to no sodium. To put that into perspective, taking one cup of navy beans provides 52% (adult male) or 76% (adult female) of the daily adequate intake of fiber. Fiber improves gastrointestinal function, lower, cholesterol levels, slow down carbohydrate absorption resulting in a possible reduction in high blood glucose and could reduce the overall risk of chronic diseases. Unfortunately, most people stay away from bean intake due to the fear of increased or intemperate flatulence. Although it is easy to stay anonymous with a silent fart (with or without that "nice" whiff), nobody wants that eye contact when that egregiously importunate sound comes out of your rump!  "Yeah right... you fart champ!" 😎


How Beans May Cause Farts?

As mentioned earlier, beans are rich in fiber, specifically soluble oligosaccharides (predominantly raffinose and stachyose). These components cannot be digested alone by the regular human digestive enzymes. Alternatively, they are degraded by your intestinal bacteria to byproducts that include gases such as hydrogen, methane, carbon dioxide and sometimes sulfur. Together with some ingested air, the regular process of the intestine moves these gases out of your body as one or several rounds of fart 😄.  However, it should be noted that gas production from the same meal size and type varies among individual. This could be due to differences in the community structure of the intestinal bacteria available to degrade the fiber portion of food. Certain individuals may experience bloating, which could be due to certain inherent conditions such as irritable bowel syndrome and other symptoms that may encourage intestinal gas pooling due to impaired propulsion of gas through the digestive tract and out of the body.


How Do I Cope With Increased Flatulence with Beans Intake?

First, get it out of your head. Yes! Stop thinking about beans-causing-farts when making your meal decisions. Psychological anticipation of farts after bean intake may contribute to perceived increased in flatulence. In case you are in doubt, let us talk briefly about the olestra experiment. Olestra, approved by the FDA in 1996, is a fat substitute used in various foods and snacks which may constitute digestive symptoms if consumed in large amounts. Study participants received either an olestra-containing snack or a regular snack with no olestra. However, the regular snack was intentionally labeled as containing olestra. Despite the actual absence of olestra, the people on the regular snack still documented an elevation in digestive symptoms. Hence, it is plausible that the "bad" reputation of beans as a fart-promoting food may increase the perception of flatulence from beans intake irrespective of the actual effects. In other words, it may all be in your head!

In support of the aforementioned psychological anticipation hypothesis, the culmination of 3 studies by Drs Donna Winham and Andrea Hutchins revealed that less than half of participants on a daily beans diet experienced the increased sensation of flatulence on the first week of dietary change. By the third week, more than 70% of the participants reported the dissipation of fart occurrence into normal levels. Hence, it may be emphasized that the initial increase in flatulence that you may feel in relation to beans intake would reduce over time if continued. In other words, the farts are likely temporary so get used to it! One way of getting used to bean intake may be to systematically increase the amount and frequency of consumption. 

Therefore, enjoy beans intake and get the long-term health benefits associated with the consumption of this super legume! Just like my ancestors would say - "Farts have no restroom"😄. Hence, if you initially experience an increase in farts with your beans intake, enjoy it 😉, trust the process and hang in there! It should subside.