Beano
For: What You Need to
Know About Enzymes, November 2002
Q: Does
Beano prevent gas?
A: The enzyme
in this and similar products can help prevent gas caused by eating beans.
You have to swallow it along with the beans or add it to them. Swallowing
it in advance won’t work.
Recently researchers at St. Michael’s
Hospital in Toronto reviewed existing studies (few in number) and concluded
that Beano is effective in reducing or preventing gas and flatulence.
Thus, Beano might dispose people to eat more beans and other good foods.
It’s worth a try.
Beano has been around for at least a decade
and has competitors, including less expensive generics. The active ingredient
is an enzyme called alpha-galactosidase, which breaks down some of the
complex sugars (oligosaccharides). We have no intestinal enzymes to digest
oligosaccharides, so they may ferment in the large intestine and cause
gas.
Points to consider:
• This enzyme will not prevent gas caused by dairy products or plant fiber.
• High heat deactivates the enzyme, so don’t cook with it. You can put it on hot food so long as the food isn’t too hot to eat.
• Alpha-galactosidase is made from mold (Aspergillus niger). If you’re allergic to molds, you might have a reaction, though we know of no such cases. People with galacto-semia, a genetic disorder, should avoid it.
• Beano appears to diminish the action of acarbose, a drug used in the treatment of Type 2 diabetes.
• You can reduce the gas problem by throwing out the soaking water and adding fresh water before cooking dried beans.
UC Berkeley Wellness Letter, October 2002
