Unmasking Superfoods by Jennifer Sygo

Author:Jennifer Sygo [Sygo, Jennifer]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781443419796
Publisher: HarperCollins Canada
Published: 2014-08-07T16:00:00+00:00

BEAN POISONING?

Perhaps the most concerning side effect associated with eating beans is the potential for phytohemagglutinin poisoning in uncooked and undercooked beans, especially red kidney beans. Phytohemagglutinin (PHA) is a lectin, a type of protein found naturally in plant and some animal foods, that can become toxic to humans at high levels and possibly make food allergies to beans more severe.34 Although lectins are present in all beans, PHA is most concentrated in red kidney beans. PHA poisoning, which is associated with severe and short-lived nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea that sets in as little as three hours after consumption, can be caused by as few as four or five uncooked beans. Fortunately, the toxins can be deactivated by boiling the beans for as little as 10 minutes.35 In that time, the number of toxins drops from 20,000 to 70,000 hemagglutinating units, or hau, in raw red kidney beans to 200 to 400 hau in cooked beans (note that white kidney beans have about one-third the PHA content of red beans). Importantly, the beans must be in boiling (100°C) water: PHA poisoning has been reported in beans cooked at lower temperatures, such as in slow cookers, where the temperature may not exceed 75 to 80°C.

Although PHA toxins can be deactivated in as little as 10 minutes, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration recommends a 30-minute boil to ensure the beans have reached a sufficient temperature to destroy all the lectin (note that canned beans are precooked). You can use canned beans for added safety (if you’re concerned about bisphenol A, or BPA, a plastic-derived substance that has been banned from baby bottles but still exists in the lining of cans, try companies such as Eden Organic, which sell their beans in BPA-free cans). If you soak your beans overnight, make sure to discard the water (this is key!) before boiling.

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