Are runner beans poisonous?

[Chrispy]

Hi all,
My OH eats runner beans, lots of them, every day, raw, she loves them and has eaten them raw ever since she was a child.

I never gave it another thought, until I saw on a seed website, a small mention advising that they should be cooked, otherwise they may upset your stomach.

So I had a look on Wiki, and it says

Runner beans contain traces of a poisonous lectin, Phytohaemagglutinin, and hence must be thoroughly cooked before consumption.

, so I am a bit concerned.

Reading a bit more, as far as I can tell, the only problem may be an upset stomach, and she does not seem to have any problems when eating beans, so it does not seem to be a problem, but I would be interested to hear from any of you who know more about this.

Cheers C

[Chrispy]

[hippydave]

i eat my runner right off the plant and ive never had an upset stomach, i think you have to soak the dried beans for 24hrs to remove any toxins tho.

[Rhubarb Thrasher]

well Wiki says it all I think. 5 beans! Interesting if you undercook them like in a casserole, they can actually become even more poisonous. 1 bean! Surely not

I always cook beans separately and then add them later, and I don't anymore cook a mixture of beans at the same time

[Digeroo]

I thought it was the beans that are poisonous, is this a problem when you eat the tender young green pods?

[Rhubarb Thrasher]

well we do seem to get outbreaks of poisoning from beans every now and then in the UK according to the internet, and undercooked beans are more toxic than raw ones, and soaked ones are more toxic than dried ones. I suppose soaking and (under)cooking makes them more digestible without denaturing the lectin, so you get bigger dose.........

[Flighty]

The mature beans are if you eat them raw, and in quantity! This may be of interest -

http://www.rhs.org.uk/growyourown/nigel_runnerbeans.asp

[Rhubarb Thrasher]

that's just it Flighty - according to wiki etc, it's not *in quantity* 1undercooked bean is all it takes (apparently)

I bet the number of people who eat runner beans in any form is quite small, and entirely confined to people like us. When I didn't have a garden I wouldn't touch them with a bargepole in Tesco's, cus I was used to getting them for nothing, and i've never used runner bean beans. Oops apart from the big white ones. And i've had them quite crunchy too (undersoaked, but hopefully not undercooked......

[thifasmom]

it might also just be possible that since she has been eating them this way from childhood she may have built up some form of immunity or resistance to the toxins (she may have even been born with the ability to cope with this particular toxin).

i know back home for the amt of beans/ legumes we eat we don't go around f**ting all the time :-X, so i would assume that as a populace we have built up a better tolerance to the beans wind producing attributes.

so like i said she may have been born with the ability to deal with the beans toxins, you on the other hand might try it and end up with a sore tummy and the runs :-X.

just a thought :-\.

[phlips66]

i am always eating them straight of the plant and dont seem to have any upsets
so maybe it is in large amounts. must say first i have heard of it.

[landimad]

If they are poisonous then we should all be dead by now.

I do not think I am do you? ;D ;D ;D ;D

I love them to bits raw or cooked

[Eristic]

Don't eat the roots!

[non-stick]

Mrs Stick eats them straight off the plant and so far with no ill effects. I'd heard french beans should be cooked but not runners

[Multiveg]

I've munched beans (runners and french) off the plant since I was small. I prefer most veg raw anyway (you could tell when I had been to the allotment - pea pods strewn alongside the rows!!).

We are all going to die, just hope it is later rather than sooner!

[Melbourne12]

I can't find the levels of haemagglutinin in runner beans, but the following table from a paper on the subject of haemagglutinin poisoning from the British Medical Journal is interesting, and is, I think, the primary source of most references on the subject.

TABLE II-Lectin content of legumes. (Haemagglutinin units x 103/g dry weight of sample)
                                       Raw     Soaked
Red kidney beans             53              18
White kidney beans          17              14
Broad beans                       3                3

This paper (Noah et al. 1980. Br. Med. J. 19 July, 236-7) actually measured the levels of the substance in various types of bean.  It's not a huge evidence base, but it does suggest that kidney beans, especially the red ones, are the danger.  And remember that these are dried beans, not the fresh immature beans that we eat when we eat runner beans.

All of the cases of bean poisoning that had been reported in the UK at that time related to red kidney beans.  None to cannellini beans, in spite of their relatively high haemagglutinin levels.

This paper is also the original source of the "as few as 4 or 5 beans can poison you" story.  I'll quote the description of the incident:

The smallest recorded "dose" to produce symptoms was four or five raw soaked beans (incident 2). In this episode, one other person developed symptoms after eating beans casseroled with meat and vegetables in an oven at 150-160°C for three hours, whereas two others who ate only meat and vegetables from the casserole did not.

Given that the description of what happened is gleaned from the victims, presumably including the cook, after the event, I'd be very suspicious of the details of the story!

[landimad]

Melbourne,

I heard that the Red Kidney bean was not good for you unless it was cooked.
As to the others not so sure. Chefs at where I used to work have all stated the red one is the only one they were wary of.

[Melbourne12]

Melbourne,

I heard that the Red Kidney bean was not good for you unless it was cooked.
As to the others not so sure. Chefs at where I used to work have all stated the red one is the only one they were wary of.

I think that's exactly right.  I would quite cheerfully eat raw or undercooked green beans, both French and runner.

I suspect that many people buy their red kidney beans in a can these days, but with the dried ones, I was taught to bring them slowly to the boil in plenty of water, and immediately strain them and repeat the boil and strain before their third and final soak.

[Chrispy]

Hi all,
Thanks for all the replies, with so many people eating raw beans, can't be much a problem, and longs as they are small and green, and I get so moaned at if one bean gets too big, I don't think that's a problem.

Incidentally, I think it was a pack of T&M seeds is where I first read that they needed to be cooked, that made me ask the question.

[amphibian]

I eat beans in all forms, I am quite partial to the uncooked mature bean straight from the pod, I eat French beans raw all the time, in huge quantities. I have never had as much as bad wind. All that said and done, I do not eat that many red kidney beans, they are not the best bean in my opinion, so I don't bother with them much.

All this is anecdotal of course.

[wolrik]

Hi folks! I came across your forum whilst looking for info on raw runner beans.

At 3:30 this afternoon, my wife and I were in the allotment, eating raw runner beans straight from the plant. We have two varieties, one with white beans, the other being pink with black markings. These beans are mature, with a lot of them already turned brown; we only ate the ones that were still green.

By 7pm I was projectile vomiting, and you really don't want to know what was happening at the other end at the same time. This lasted about 3 hours, every minute of which I either thought I was going to die, or wished I could. By 11pm, the vomiting had stopped and the stomach cramps were subsiding. 11:15 and my wife got home from singing practice complaining of bed stomach ache, as she flew up the stairs 3 at a time. Over 2 hours later, I'm sat here getting some fluids back inside me, whilst I listen to the constant opening and closing of the bathroom door. Luckily, my wife appears to have missed the vomiting part.

As the only thing we ate in common today was the beans, I think we can safely say they were the cause. As for the difference in the effect between us, I was eating the larger, more mature beans, whilst my wife was eating the smaller ones because they were juicier.

We've both eaten raw runner beans before with no ill effect, but always when the plant is much younger. Raw beans have now been removed from my diet. And now I must dash, I think the loud gurgling noises from my stomach are telling me to run, if you'll excuse the pun. ;)

I'll take a better look around the site when I feel more alive.

Martin.

[Digeroo]

Are you sure that this is due to eating runner beans?  Afterall you say that you have eaten them before.

Hope you are feeling better.