Ferment and cook beans for gas-free nutrition

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Public release date: 25-Apr-2006

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2006-04/jws-fac042006.php

Contact: Amy Molnar

amolnar@...

Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Ferment and cook beans for gas-free nutrition

Fermenting beans and then cooking them not only reduces the majority of

the soluble fibre that leads to flatulence, but also enhances their

nutritional quality. Now we know which bacteria are important for the

fermentation, reveal findings published online today in the SCI's

Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture.

Beans are already an important source of nutrients, and many people

would eat more of them if it wasn't for the flatulence. In many

situations treating food to remove one problem often reduces its

nutritional value, but a team of researchers at Simón Bolívar University

in Caracas, Venezuela, have shown how flatulence can be reduced, while

the nutritional value is enhanced.

Flatulence is caused by bacteria that live in the large intestine

breaking down parts of the food that have not been digested higher in

the gut, and releasing gas. Led by Marisela Granito, the researchers had

previous shown that fermenting the beans could destroy many of these

compounds. Now this team of researchers at has identified the bacteria

that perform this fermentation.

Publishing their work in the Journal of the Science of Food and

Agriculture, they show firstly that Lactobacillus casei and

Lactobacillus plantarum are the key bacteria. These can be encouraged to

grow either by deliberately adding it to a batch, or by inoculating with

liquor from a previous batch.

Secondly, they discovered that once these fermented beans are cooked,

the amounts of nutrients in the bean that could be digested and absorbed

had increased significantly.

" Our results show that L. casei could be used as a functional starter

culture in the food industry, " says Granito.

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Granito, M. et. al: Lactic acid fermentation of black beans (Phaseolus

vulgaris): microbiological and chemical characterization; JSFA, 2490/05-0089

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