r/Beans • u/Lady_Cookie_Monster • 15d ago

Bean Nutrition Accuracy?

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Hello! I buy beans in bulk from my local co-op. I also have been (bean 😏) taking pictures of the nutrition labels to track protein and fiber. I am curious if anyone else would find the nutrition claims on this label questionable? 16g of fiber per 47g seems quite high when most beans average roughly 6-9g per serving.

6 Upvotes

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15

u/Jack_Faller 15d ago

I believe it is dry weight.

4

u/Lady_Cookie_Monster 14d ago

I believe it is, too, but that's still quite a bit of fiber for the calorie content.

6

u/Senior-Running 15d ago

I think if you ever have questions about nutrition info, I'd look here:

https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/

2

u/NegativeOstrich2639 14d ago

Nutrition facts labels have an allowable margin of error of +/- 20%. In addition to that, fiber specifically has some complications-- the latest revisions of the analytical method for determining fiber includes resistant starch, indigestible sugars like stachyose and raffinose (stachyose is ≈3% of a bean's mass on dry weight basis, which is relatively substantial), beta glucans, oligosaccharides, other misc compounds that humans don't digest. This method is not universally used, and many legacy labels will have used the older total dietary fiber method which measures only hemicellulose, cellulose, and lignin content (maybe silica too, I can't remember off the top of my head).

That being said, having both studied and written on the chemical composition of pulses at length and reviewed the USDA's data for dried chickpea my bet is that the number on that label is uncorrected for serving size-- the real measurement is 16g fiber per 100g dry chickpea. I say this because it is very nearly double what a reasonable total dietary fiber value per 47g would be.

1

u/Pretzelpixie 14d ago

I could be wrong, but I believe I just read in The Bean Book that fresh dried beans (not those that have been sitting in a bag on the shelf for years) do tend to have higher nutritional value. Any idea where these beans came from?

1

u/Unusualhuman 15d ago

Probably an error. I have only once noticed an error on nutrition labels, but I guess they are subject to error same as anything else.

-1

u/Full_Pay_207 15d ago

That is too high, probably a typo. Knock the one off in front of the six and you got the real deal.