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Comment by maxk42 | Hacker News Reader

Please do not spread this incorrect information!

The reason you soak beans is not to improve the flavor. It is to dissolve the flavorless and indigestible sugars that give you massive bean-gas when you eat them. If you soak beans well before cooking -- then change the water and cook them -- then change the water again and rinse them well before finishing the cooking process -- you will have a tasty, nutritious treat that doesn't make your ass explode!

That's right! You can have totally fart-free beans. Only most restaurants and chefs are totally oblivious to this fact, so you can't really trust prepared beans any time you go out. There should be a certified-fart-free label for the restaurants that really know what's up.

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From "Effects of Various Soybean Products on Flatulence in the Adult Man." at http://ebm.sagepub.com/content/121/4/1235.short

"Conclusions: In 4 human male subjects, kept on a carefully controlled diet to which various fractions of soybean meal were added, the flatus-producing factor in soybeans was concentrated primarily in the low molecular-weight constituents. These experiments also showed that the soybean hulls, fat, water-insoluble polysaccharides, and protein are not associated with flatulence production to any significant degree. Caseinate and soybean proteinate appear to inhibit flatulence. When equivalent amounts of navy bean meal were consumed, flatus volumes increased 2.52 times that following the consumption of dehulled, defatted soybean meal."

Could you precis that for the lazy casual reader?

I've also always heard that, but isn't that one of the myths that the article supposedly disproved?

I don't think the article disproved it. In my experience, soaking does definitely reduce the flatulence effects.

True, it didn't disprove it. I was merely going based on the quote, "...suffice it to say that even with almost all of the alpha-galactosides gone, there wasn't a consistent marked decrease in human flatulence." They went on to say: "We reduced the alpha-galactoside content by 90% but we haven't done anything to dietary fiber," says Gray, "and dietary fiber produces similar effects."

That's an interesting scientific study. It confirmed that soaking can dissolve the complex sugars which contribute to flatulence. True it doesn't do anything about the fiber, but perhaps fiber has much less flatulence-causing effects for many people? I'm curious exactly how they measured the amount of flatulence and how large the population size of the study was.

Actually dietary fiber does NOT create similar effects.

SOLUBLE dietary fiber does. And that is also dissolved by water. Which is why you soak.

The article actually confirms this explicitly if you read it.

Can you cite that? I just read it and found these two quotes:

  Finally, soaking does absolutely nothing to reduce the gas-producing properties 
  of beans.

  It was thought that soaking beans in cold water leached 
  these sugars out of the bean. Throw away the water and you 
  throw away the gas -- it has a simple appeal. 
  
  Unfortunately, it isn't true. These sugars are part of what 
  the bean uses for nourishment as it grows into a plant, 
  and the bean does not part with them gladly.

Harold McGee has addressed this [1]:

"The main reasons for presoaking beans are to shorten the cooking time substantially, and to leach out the indigestible carbohydrates that make beans gassy. The disadvantage of presoaking is that you also leach out many other soluble materials, including vitamins and minerals.

"You retain more nutrients by cooking the beans in the soak water, but you also retain the gassy carbohydrates. I recommend soaking beans, then cooking them in the same water at a bare simmer for at least a couple of hours, even if they’re soft before then. Extended cooking breaks down the gassy carbohydrates."

He also suggests adding salt to the water when soaking [2]:

[1] http://consults.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/07/23/a-healthy-way-t...

[2] http://dinersjournal.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/08/09/harold-mcg...

> Only most restaurants and chefs are totally oblivious to this fact

For some reason I find this hard to believe.

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