“People’s concerns about excessive flatulence from eating beans may be exaggerated.” That conclusion emerges loud and clear at the end of a study published recently in the Nutrition Journal.
Donna Winham [pictured here], of Arizona State University, and Andrea Hutchins, of the University of Colorado, call their report Perceptions of Flatulence From Bean Consumption Among Adults in 3 Feeding Studies.
“Many consumers avoid eating beans because they believe legume consumption will cause excessive intestinal gas or flatulence”, they explain.
Winham and Hutchins had volunteers eat half a cup of beans daily. Every week everyone answered a questionnaire.
In the first week, fewer than half of the bean eaters reported increases in gas production. Then came a further surprise…
So begins this week’s Improbable Research column in The Guardian.
BONUS: Overblown fears about dinosaur flatulence?
BONUS: Should the new findings be confirmed, this scene from the movie Blazing Saddles would prove slightly exaggerated: