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Pea Flour—Looks Good on the Label but Doesn’t Digest
Manufacturers are increasingly using pea flour in the production of low-carbohydrate foods. These days you’ll find it in pasta, chips, cookies, energy bars, and even dog food. Because it’s up to 28% protein, pea flour looks good on an ingredient label, but there’s a catch. It’s hard to digest. We’ll look at why this questionable practice got started. But first let’s see why pea flour is not so palatable and, if you’ve digestive issues, not recommended.
The Musical Fruit
From first hand experience, many people know that dried legumes like peas and pinto beans can challenge the digestion. Like string beans and sugar snap peas, when they are immature and fresh, legumes are a nutritious delight. But once those seeds are fully mature and dry, they develop antinutrients including lectins, phytic acid, tannins, and polyphenols. To mitigate these mild toxins, dried peas and beans are traditionally soaked, possibly sprouted, and definitely cooked. Then, if your digestion is robust, you can assimilate their nutrients and enjoy their hearty, sweet flavor.
Swapping Peas for Soy
In the past few decades, enough savvy consumers stopped buying foods with high-tech soybean fillers that manufacturers scrambled for a replacement. Pea and other legume flours were the obvious choice. They were high in protein and dirt cheap, but the problem was flavor. While you would tuck into a bowl of split pea soup, you’d pass on a bowl of raw (and indigestible) pea flour. Yes, the pea flour in energy bars and supplements is raw.
I invite you to experiment to discern your own truth. For one week eat only traditionally prepared legumes for your protein needs. Follow this with a week of eating only pea flour products for protein. Note the difference.
Plasticized Pea Flour
If you try making pasta out of bean flour you’ll get a goopy mess. So even though a spaghetti label rightly claims that bean flour is the sole ingredient, common sense tells us that something extraordinary has happened to that flour.
Here’s how technology resolved the taste and texture problem. Legume flour is moistened (and optionally flavored and colored), and then extruded through a die under high temperature and pressure to plasticize it (an industry term). This yields aerated shapes with a range of textures from crispy for a puffed bean chip to pasta that will cook al dent. While extrusion “cooking” reduces some of pea flour’s antinutrients, it doesn’t eliminate them.
Lucky for Fido
My hunch is that history will repeat itself, and in a decade or so, studies will finally reveal that placticized pea flour is as noxious as highly refined soy products. Given the clout of advertising and that we’re creatures of habit, this process is typically slow. Not long ago, many informed pet owners assiduously bought soy-free dog food—but kept stirring soy (textured vegetable protein) into their sloppy Joes. How incongruous—but lucky for Fido.
So have a close look at ingredients. If pea or legume flour is included, pass on it. Also pass on pea protein powder which is typically processed with caustic and flammable toluene. Whether it’s yellow, green, pigeon, or generic pea flour, you don’t want it. This means that you might be standing in the snack aisle for a long time reading labels without finding a high-protein treat without pea flour. What to do?
Here’s a simple solution. Enjoy a tasty traditional bean dish (or other protein) with every breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Then when it’s snack time, an apple is a true delight.
The only company I’m aware of that produces canned beans that excludes the beans’ soaking water (and therefore many antinutrients) is Eden Foods. Yes, it is the same company that has packed their beans in bisphenol-A (BPA) free can linings since 1999 and spearheaded that important movement.
References
https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/foodmicrostructure/vol10/iss3/3/
https://www.usapulses.org/core/files/usapulses/uploads/files/Chapter4.pdf
Fast foods now use pea flour and I am allergic to it. I hope it doesn’t cause people severe allergic reactions.
I agree, Sandi. It does take vigilance to avoid allergens. Thanks be for home cooking and using ingredients that you know and trust.
I have no problem with soya, no problem with peas, no problem with my digestion.
I would not want to eat a lot of uncooked pea/bean product as the mild toxins need cooking to be destroyed.
Legumes are one of the best foodstuffs you can get, they are low in fat, cheap and high in fibre.
What would be the alternatives:- Chicken, substantial fat content, have no fibre at all, left over growth hormones, anti-biotics and salmonella.
What does being “hard to digest” mean? Does it mean your body can not easily extract the nutrition from the product so more calories etc end up in your poop?
I know that our biome adjusts to what we eat and that people suddenly changing from one food to another can cause upsets, but if you eat a good variety of foods including plenty of fibre then you should not have any issues.
What would you use instead of pea flour?
How wonderful that you’ve good digestion and have no problem with beans. Therefore, continue to enjoy all bean products but, for optimum flavor, energy and digestibility, favor whole bean products rather than bean flours or high-tech bean products like bean chips.
“Hard to digest” is when a food demands extra work from your GI tract to fully extract the nutrients. This varies with each individual. While bananas are easy to digest, if still green, they can be too “astringent” and hard for some people. Also, a banana split would demand more of a person’s GI system and be less easy to digest.
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I use pasta made from green pea flour, as well as some from lentils and some from buckwheat. I don’t have any digestion issues that I know of, but I want to eat nutritiously without compromising on my enjoyment of food, especially as I have a chocolate and milk routine each evening that I’m not giving up 🙂 I would like as much balance as possible.
May your digestion continue to be good. My numerous blogs show photos of people who have digestive complaints. Should you have any of these symptoms, consider adjusting your diet as per my recommendations. I’ll be glad to help with a Face Reading.
Pea flour pasta is boiled and the water thrown out. Cooking helps make it digestible and discarding the cooking water dilutes the toxins.
Pea Flour Pasta may be the only use of pea flour that won’t cause issues.
How lovely that in your experience pasta from legumes is more digestible. This is not true for everyone.
Earlier today I ate some Zenb pea pasta and am now in agony. I won’t be eating this again!!!
I’m sorry for your discomfort. And, if I may, this sounds like an invaluable lesson. Pea flour products apparently are “toxic” to your system. Therefore, continue to avoid them. The odds are that your gastrointestinal tract is not functioning optimally. If you wish, you can discern the root cause of this and resolve it. It’s doable. That’s what my web page is all about. Good luck!
Does this apply to Pease Brose
When made into porridge, pea meal/flour, is well cooked and so not so problematic. However, as soaking always makes dried legumes more digestible, why fuss with pea flour? Besides dried peas quickly cook into a mush, or, peas porridge. I’d not use pea flour in bannocks as generally baked goods are harder to digest.
I cook pea flour in my oatmeal and bake it in banana bread. Does this make it more digestible?
Correct, freshly cooked pea flour is more digestible than pea flour in a packaged food. If, however, you have any digestive issues try going without it for a while to see if that helps ease your digestion.
I just found this as I read the labels on the sausages in the fridge that someone else bought, and saw pea flour.
As I’m currently gluten free and on a ketogenic diet I went to google and ended up here.
Will be giving the rest of this site a read as it was a very nice blog post from you, thank you.
Good sleuthing on your part. It pays to be vigilant.
I did the same. I’m gluten intolerant and so I read the sausage label and it has pea flour! Thank you for this important information.
Thank you for your excellent information, and measured responses.
You’re welcome. We want everyone to enjoy optimum health and wellbeing and, for many people, pea flour is best avoided.
Yes I agree with ALL of your fantastic assessments! But what about Sprouted Organic Pea flour? If I cook it for at least 10 minutes will it be digestible?
I can’t know if you can digest sprouted pea flour. BUT if you have digestive or bowel issues then avoid pea flour and the other common irritants in order to mend. To help you track the status of your GI tract, you’ll find numerous photos in my Face Reading blogs that reveal various digestive problems plus information on how to resolve your issues.
I wondering if soaking or fermenting pea flour over a few days would help with digestibility?
A flour is fermentable as we know from sourdough bread and tef injera. But, if fermented, would it yield a desirable texture/result? If you’re using pea flour due to compromised digestion here’s a suggestion: it will pay off in the long run to adjust your diet to regain digestive prowess.
Hello Rebecca, Thank you for this informative article. I am vegan, organic, gluten free because of health issues. I am considering going raw vegan focusing on sprouted, soaked, fermented beans, nuts, seeds, grains to reduce phytic acid. What do you advise?
Given your health problems, it appears that your current diet is not serving you. Consider referring to the numerous blogs on my page on face reading. Then make dietary shifts and track the changes in your face. As your digestion (and health symptoms) resolves, your facial indicators self-correct. If, however, your symptoms and facial indicators become more extreme, then you’re on the wrong track. I do not recommend a raw vegan diet for anyone.
Phytic acid is just one of many factors re. health and certainly not the most important. What is critical is for you to discern what is triggering your health problems.
Good luck!
I get totally bloated when I eat pea protein in alternative ice cream, cereals and other foods. I agree, it’s the new soy.
Spot on, Cecil! May other people notice the cause and effect in their very own bodies from eating pea protein (and other shoddy foods). Then like you, they’ll opt for feeling better and return to eating healthy foods.
I couldn’t find any published articles to lend some scientific basis to the claims in this article. It must be a conspiracy.
A conspiracy? Hardly. Just common sense.
LOL, the claim that pea flour is “non digestible” is not backed by any credible Science.
And the fact that someone uses the term “fire element” anywhere in a dietary blog, shows they are utterly clueless about reality.
But thanks for the laugh.
I don’t need an outside source to tell me what I digest. Pea protein messes up my digestion! I’ll ship you some samples if you want to run tests….less the toilet paper of course.
If pea flour is non-digestible, why it is commonly used in Indian cookery?
Correct, pea flour was historically an occasional ingredient in Indian cuisine. The daily staple remains, however, dhal which is easier to digest than is pea flour. Correct, occasional use of pea flour is not a problem for many people. But if you have digestive issues, then pea flour typically challenges a delicate system.
I enjoyed reading this article and it’s commentary, thank you.
My interest for this came as lately I have started making dosa with all kinds of gluten free flours. I tend to mix legumes flour and gluten free grains flour or just use them on their own, for example I would make dosa (pankakes) with just chickpea flour or just greenpea flour, or mix them with rice flour etc…
I haven’t noticed anything specific in terms of my digestion, but it was interesting to know, and definitely I will take it easy with it from now forward.
Thanks again for the article
You’re welcome. In terms of digestibility, you might try the traditional dosas made of rice and dal.
Hum. I am trying to find low carb alternatives so I can make pasta and pizza dough. I currently use Great Low Carb pasta’s and see it has pea protein and was going to buy pea flour and make my own to save on the costs. I have tried Cauliflower everything alternative and the only one I can tolerate passing my lips is mashed. Rice for sushi is disgusting. I make sushi by mixing mashed avocado with whipped cream cheese and that is my rice. I have to put in the freezer for 20 minutes before I can cut without the mush. I really need a low carb flour alternative not so much for me really but for my husband who must have pasta, bread, and potatoes. I am tired of spending lots of money at netrition.com to get this stuff and want to make it. Tried coconut, almost, and flaxseed. I have psyillium allergy. Any advice?
Yes, I do have some advice. Consider using real, whole foods versus the countless ersatz, wanna-be replacements which, after all, are not that tasty. For starts, consider the various recipes you’ll find on my pages. Good luck.
Although it is true that the proteins in yellow pea flour are not totally digestible because of antinutrient factors and difficult to digest proteins and carbohydrates, it still has a true protein digestibility of greater than 85%. Even though much of the starch is resistant to hydrolysis by human amylase, is is digested in the lower gut by probiotic microbes usually into short chain fatty acids that are easily absorbed and metabolized which keeps the glycemic response very low. When combined with conventional cereals, complete protein results.
We buy yellow pea flour in 5 kg bags and nobody in our household experiences any of the problems described. We have many South Asian friends who eat yellow peas and none of them or their children have any of these problems. It may possibly take a period of time for the gut microflora to adapt, but once this has happened you will likely be healthier.
I agree that dried legumes are a healthy food and have been an important dietary staple since the advent of agriculture. What we observe globally today is an increasing number of people with a challenged gut. For such people, legumes are especially problematic. This is compounded when peas are consumed in a flour form (versus soaking and then cooking).
The increasing incidence of individuals with” challenged guts” is a very difficult and complex issue. Lectins appear to play a role but it would be overly simplistic to accept them as the root cause. The Harvard Medical School has rightly stated that much misinformation has been circulated about lectins especially by fad diet books. In my opinion Gundry’s writings are pretty well at the top of the list.
You are correct in saying that soaked and cooked peas are lower in antinutirents than is the flour. This is because lectins are most concentrated in the seed coat and are water soluble. Also bacteria develop in the soak water and they also attack lectins and other molecules. I recommend changing the soak water more than once during soaking. Another factor is that the cooking time of whole or split peas is usually longer than items made with the flour. The antinutrients are denatured by heat and the longer and higher the heating, the more denaturation there will be. Having said that, one should not overstate the digestive problem of the flour. Studies in humans and rats have shown the guts to tolerate smaller concentrations quite well and there may even be some beneficial effects is slowing the uptake of sugars. We always use yellow pea flour in combination with wheat flour and sometimes rice and buckwheat flour so the absolute amount of pea antinutrients is relatively low. I have noticed at meals with South Asians families where pea flour flatbread and snacks are eaten, that the meals contain a wide variety of ingredients and that the pea flour would amount to only a relatively small part of the food intatke if you work it out. Also studies have shown the gut microbiome of individuals in these places is much more complex than what is found in North America and this might also be a relevant factor in the lack of negative effects of the consumption of pea flour and some other things for that matter.
The vast majority of people should encounter no problems with introducing a small amount of yellow pea flour into their cooking. For a number of reasons they could have some increased health benefits.
Gary, Thank you for your response. I agree that small amounts of pea flour in an otherwise healthy diet of freshly, prepared traditional foods should pose no problem to people with sound digestion.
I remain concerned about people with compromised digestion who consume pea flour as a protein substitute in hard to digest foods such as energy bars, protein drinks and chips.
thank you for this informative post.
Is this pseudo-dietetic nonsense? Sounds like it.
It could be. But here’s a way you can know for yourself. I invite you to use pea flour products as your primary protein for 10 days and note how your GI tract responds. Feel free to let us know what happens.
As a protein staple, pea flour with pork has been used for hundreds of years in military rations. Pea flour is nutritious and can be part of a balanced diet.
Thanks for your input. I agree, pea flour is nutritious. The relevant point remains: how digestible is it? From the advent of agriculture, peas and legumes were traditionally soaked (sometimes sprouted) and then cooked for a long time to remove their anti-nutrients. Grinding dried dried peas into flour does NOT eliminate their anti-nutrients which makes it hard to digest. I’ve never tasted military rations but it’s a given that a pot of whole peas cooked with (or without) pork is both delicious and digestible. Pea flour remains a cheap and hard-to-digest ingredient.
i think my GI tract would respond negatively to any ONE THING eaten as my primary protein. variety is important.
Thank you, Rebecca for your wonderful and insightful blog. I wish that healthy food was more affordable.
You are welcome, Nitram. The good news is that a pound of dried peas costs far less that a pound of pea flour pasta and yields more servings. Plus energetically it is superior to, and more healing than a processed pea product. Cooking from scratch is economically the way to go.
Isn’t Pea Flour what Pease Brose is? You just add hot milk or water and you have a breakfast which is more nutritious than porridge.
Correct. Brose is a Scottish word for uncooked meal (like oats or dried, ground peas). Correct, peas have more more protein than grains. The relevant question is, can you digest it? There’s reason why its more healthful to soak peas, discard the soaking water, optionally sprout the peas and then cook thoroughly (not just stir in hot liquid).
How about pasta with lentil flour? Is it digestable ?
Legumes, including lentils, are higher in antinutrients and lectins than are grains and therefore are less easy to digest.
Hello:
What about sprouted chickpea or yellow pea flour? Would that make a difference?
Great question. Yes, sprouting makes legumes more digestible–but how much is not known. The relevant question is your digestion. If it is challenged, then pea flour is probably not be a fit. But give it a try and see.
However, it’s good to remember that a baked flour product is inherently harder to digest than if the grain (or legume) was ground. For example, it is easier for the gut to digest cracked wheat or bulgur than if that same wheat were baked into a bread.
Hi there
We have been eating the McCambridge’s gluten free soda bread in Ireland. It is almost as good as the real thing. I am hoping to recreate it as I cannot get it here and it is expensive to order online. I am confident about substituting another ‘flour’, but wondering if there is one that is equivalent for flavour/texture and without the toxins? Fewer carbs are also an advantage at the moment as they set off hot flushes like mad.
Any tips?
Thanks
Patricia
Good luck! I find the most digestible and tasty GF breads are the traditional ones like injera, dosa and tortillas. It’s impossible–and not very digestible–to try to make other ingredients behave like wheat.
Do you consider polyphenols anti nutrients? I thought they were antioxidants – beneficial micronutrients found in olive oil, coffe, tea, chocolate, blueberries, …and legumes.
?
Thank you for this blog post!
Good question. Yes, polyphenols are antioxidants and, generally speaking, are generally healthful, unless, that is one has food sensitivities.
From its common use in several countries, I’m guessing that chickpea (garbanzo bean) flour) is different somehow, yes?
You are correct, chickpea flour is used in, primarily, Indian flatbreads (however wheat flatbreads are more common). The relevant question is: how well are you digesting chickpea flour? As will all dried legumes, it contains anti nutrients that challenge one’s digestion. It appears that many contemporary people have compromised gastrointestinal function.
I think that you have a passion with this information, but I’m concerned that you seem to say that basically legumes aren’t good. Yes, people have problems with their guts because they eat just garbage. Instead, eat naturally, cook you at home, avoid excessive sugar, salt and chemicals and then beans are a great food.
Yes, I agree, that legumes are a great food if you can digest them. Unfortunately an increasingly number of people–even those who eat well- have gut issues and don’t well assimilate beans.
Hmmm. So I’m guessing that the 100% lentil pasta now on the market poses the same problem? Would you suggest passing on it?
Thanks for sharing your knowledge and wisdom and suggestions!
You’re welcome. And, yes, you’ve got it right.
Thank you for your response. 🙂
I have a pistachio allergy and recently notice that every time I eat bread, I have a nasty reaction just like when I eat pistachios. The bread has yellow pea flour. Could pea flour be the problem?
Rachel, it’s great that you’re paying attention. If you have one food sensitivity, this points to some level of malabsorption. The odds are that (unless you mend your gastrointestinal tract) you’ll develop additional sensitivities. It makes sense that pea flour, which is inherently difficult to digest, would trigger your system. Refer to https://www.rebeccawood.com/face-reading/clear-up-your-complexion-with-face-reading/
I’m glad I saw this. I started making my own gluten free bread and took out a couple of bread maker cookbooks. One of the cookbook has pea flour as an ingredient. Is there something I can replace the pea flour with and still have the recipe gluten free?
The only reason pea flour is in the recipe is for its perceived value as a protein source. It doesn’t enhance the bread with flavor and it gives it a more dense, heavy and moist texture. Find a different recipe. Or substitute another “flour” for the pea flour. Good luck. Making a decent gluten-free bread is a challenge.