Why do beans give us gas?

Moment of Um

American Public Media

Kids & Family, Education For Kids

4.4 • 1.5K Ratings

🗓️ 21 April 2025

⏱️ 7 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Beans are delicious. From edamame to lentils, there’s a bean for everyone! But they can also make us a little tooty. Why is that? We asked pediatrician Wendy Hunter to help us find the answer.

Got a question that’s a real gas? Send it to us at BrainsOn.org/contact and we’ll rip a good one (answer, that is)!

Transcript

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0:00.0	From the brains behind brains on, this is the moment of um.
0:07.6	Answering those questions that make you go, um, comes to you from APM Studios. I'm a can of beans.
0:34.5	Yes, hello. It's me, the can of beans in your cupboard.
0:39.9	I've been sitting here for ages, ever since you saw that recipe for kale and white bean soup and thought it sounded good.
0:50.5	238 days, to be exact.
0:53.8	I've had so much time to think and ponder your strange human existence,
0:59.7	and I have so many questions. Like, why do you humans cook bacon and bake cookies? Or, why do you get salty when you're upset? I have not observed any salt
1:16.7	being applied to your bodies during times of emotional distress. But the thing I'm really
1:22.8	curious about, why haven't you eaten me yet?
1:37.5	238 days is a long time to wait, even for a can of beans. I overheard you say the other day that beans give you gas. Is that why you haven't eaten me? Why do humans get farty from eating beans anyway?
1:47.6	Ethan and Miles asked about this too. Luckily, I consulted an expert.
1:57.1	Gas is air that's in your stomach and intestine, so how does it get there?
2:01.6	I'm Dr. Wendy Hunter. I am a primary care pediatrician in La Jolla, California, and host of the Pediatrician Next Door podcast.
2:09.2	Some people swallow a lot of air. Like if a baby is crying, they'll swallow a lot of air, and then they need to burp or, you know, pass gas to get rid of it. But what if you don't swallow a lot of air and then they need to burp or, you know, pass gas to get rid of it.
2:19.7	But what if you don't swallow a lot of air? You're not a baby. You're not crying and you're just
2:24.0	eating regular food. How does your food become gas inside your intestines? Well, gas is actually
2:30.9	made by bacteria that live in your intestines.
2:39.2	So you try to digest all your food, but sometimes you can't digest it all by yourself.
2:50.9	So there are good, happy bacteria that live and swim around in your intestines, and they help to eat up your food and break it down into all the chemicals that your body can use for energy.
2:55.1	And when the bacteria eat your food, they make gas.
2:59.7	So beans are made out of a few really complex sugars,
3:02.0	not just the straightforward sweet sugar that you eat,
	...

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