Can you stop beans from making you gassy? • Hacker News Board

Re: Can you stop beans from making you gassy?

#11

Post by VladVladikoff » Sat, Apr 25, 2026, 9:51 PM UTC

azinman2 wrote: post #6

tmoertel wrote: post #4

I was surprised they didn't try sprouting the beans before cooking. When a bean germinates, it converts sugars in storage forms to more usable forms. Given that the author seems to understand that gassiness is caused by being unable to digest FODMAPs, sprouting to reduce gassiness seems like an obvious hypothesis to test.

How does one do that? Does it change the flavor / texture?

There are lots of sprouting tutorials on YouTube. I used mason jars, soak the seeds for an hour or two, drain and leave the seeds in the jar damp. Rinse the seeds twice a day. Eventually they start to sprout.

Re: Can you stop beans from making you gassy?

#12

Post by insaneirish » Sat, Apr 25, 2026, 9:51 PM UTC

If you are unfamiliar with the author, Dave Arnold is a former instructor at the French Culinary Institute, a bar owner/operator in NYC (Booker & Dax (closed), Existing Conditions (closed), and Bar Contra (https://www.barcontra.com)), a cooking equipment designer and manufacturer (https://www.bookeranddax.com), sharer of lots of knowledge (e.g. https://cookingissues.com/primers/sous-vide/part-i-introduct...), James Beard Award winning book author (https://www.kitchenartsandletters.com/products/liquid-intell...), and a weekly podcast host (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/cooking-issues-with-da...).

I highly recommend anything he works on.

Re: Can you stop beans from making you gassy?

#13

Post by spike021 » Sat, Apr 25, 2026, 9:52 PM UTC

VladVladikoff wrote: post #11

azinman2 wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How does one do that? Does it change the flavor / texture?

There are lots of sprouting tutorials on YouTube. I used mason jars, soak the seeds for an hour or two, drain and leave the seeds in the jar damp. Rinse the seeds twice a day. Eventually they start to sprout.

Many years ago at a science-y summer camp as a child, this was a "project" we did. Not for the same purpose as suggested here but just to see how sprouting happens. Cool little experiment.

Re: Can you stop beans from making you gassy?

#14

Post by locallost » Sat, Apr 25, 2026, 9:53 PM UTC

There is an old New York Times article (90s) that makes the same conclusion. The only real way to reduce the issue is to eat then more often. Personally never had big issues with beans. What's far worse for me is anything with a high inulin content. I feel physical pain from bloating when eating that.

Re: Can you stop beans from making you gassy?

#15

Post by blackjack_ » Sat, Apr 25, 2026, 9:54 PM UTC

Yes. You just eat beans a lot. After a few months it stops making you gassy until you eat a type of bean you have never eaten before and then you are back to square one.

Source: vegan who eats beans with 75+% of meals

Re: Can you stop beans from making you gassy?

#16

Post by krackers » Sat, Apr 25, 2026, 9:55 PM UTC

blackjack_ wrote: post #15

Yes. You just eat beans a lot. After a few months it stops making you gassy until you eat a type of bean you have never eaten before and then you are back to square one. Source: vegan who eats beans with 75+% of meals

>After a few months it stops making you gassy

What causes this? Gut microbiome adapting? Doesn't that imply there should be some probiotic-type supplement you can take to seed these bacteria and keep them alive even when not eating beans?

Re: Can you stop beans from making you gassy?

#17

Post by shermantanktop » Sat, Apr 25, 2026, 9:57 PM UTC

blackjack_ wrote: post #15

Yes. You just eat beans a lot. After a few months it stops making you gassy until you eat a type of bean you have never eaten before and then you are back to square one. Source: vegan who eats beans with 75+% of meals

YMMV and people differ. Source: vegetarian who eats a lot of beans too. Beanzyme is a lifesaver.

Re: Can you stop beans from making you gassy?

#18

Post by brewcejener » Sat, Apr 25, 2026, 9:58 PM UTC

blackjack_ wrote: post #15

Yes. You just eat beans a lot. After a few months it stops making you gassy until you eat a type of bean you have never eaten before and then you are back to square one. Source: vegan who eats beans with 75+% of meals

Exactly. The gut microbiome adjusts and cultivates bacteria that feeds more efficiently or even cross feeds on gases produced by other bacteria.

Re: Can you stop beans from making you gassy?

#19

Post by shermantanktop » Sat, Apr 25, 2026, 9:58 PM UTC

addaon wrote: post #5

mstank wrote: post #3

I always found it I eat them consistently, they would make me less gassy. But only after a couple of weeks.

Yep. Rancho Gordo bean club member here — when I transitioned from “beans are okay but a lot of work to make a way I enjoy” to “I should make an effort to try a new recipe every two or four weeks”… it took about a month for my stomach to normalize the assault, but now it’s no different than anything with fiber.

The first rule of bean club is to tell everyone about bean club.

Rancho Gordo beans are great! Yellow Eyes ftw.

Re: Can you stop beans from making you gassy?

#20

Post by mixedmath » Sat, Apr 25, 2026, 9:58 PM UTC

blackjack_ wrote: post #15

Yes. You just eat beans a lot. After a few months it stops making you gassy until you eat a type of bean you have never eaten before and then you are back to square one. Source: vegan who eats beans with 75+% of meals

I was very surprised to see that the article explicitly says it will not consider this answer!