528 Canadians on a strict gluten-free diet knew beans were safe and good for them. Fewer than 1 in 100 ate them every day

People with coeliac disease spend a lot of time reading labels. The only treatment is a lifelong gluten-free diet, and the specialist breads, pastas and crackers that replace wheat cost more and are often lower in fibre and higher in fat, sugar and salt. Beans look like an obvious answer: naturally gluten-free, cheap, and rich in protein, fibre, iron and folate. A survey published in Nutrients on 28 October asked whether people who live gluten-free actually eat them.

Researchers at the University of Guelph in Ontario, working with colleagues at the University of Hohenheim in Germany, recruited adults through Celiac Canada, a national charity. 528 people completed the online questionnaire: 490 with coeliac disease and 38 with non-coeliac gluten sensitivity. Nearly all (96.4%) strongly agreed that the gluten-free diet is an important part of their daily lives. Their health histories showed why food matters to them: at diagnosis, 69.0% of those who reported a deficiency had iron-deficiency anaemia, 42.3% low vitamin D and 32.9% low vitamin B12, and fatigue (72.2%) and wind and abdominal pain (71.2%) were the commonest symptoms.

Plant foods in general were no problem: 88.6% said they ate fruit, vegetables, whole grains, legumes or nuts every day. Beans were another story. Only 0.9% ate dry beans daily and 0.4% canned beans daily. 30.1% never ate dry beans and 45.1% rarely did. Canned beans fared a little better, with most people eating them once a week or less. On a combined score, 39.8% were low bean eaters, 47.9% moderate and 12.3% high. When beans did appear, it was mostly at dinner (87.8%) and mostly at home.

It wasn't for lack of goodwill. Three quarters (74.9%) of those who named a motivator picked nutritional value, 60.1% the fact that beans make a vegetarian meal and 52.4% the price. 85.2% were confident that beans are naturally gluten-free, and around three quarters were confident about their fibre and protein. The weak spot was the kitchen: only 56.7% felt confident about how to prepare beans, the lowest of any knowledge question. The commonest barriers were long soaking and cooking times (40.2%), beans simply not being a habit (38.7%), gut discomfort (31.6%) and not knowing how to cook them (26.5%). Some also worried about gluten cross-contamination, since beans in Canada don't have to carry a gluten-free label even when they are safe.

When the researchers looked at who ate more beans, two things stood out after adjusting for age, gender, education, income and diagnosis: interest in learning more about beans, and confidence in preparing them. Each step up the agreement scale for preparation confidence went with about a quarter of a point more on the 2-to-12 bean score. Each extra motivator a person ticked went with a slightly higher score and each extra barrier with a slightly lower one. 68.9% agreed that knowing more about how to prepare beans would get them eating more, and when asked what they wanted to learn, recipes came first, then preparation, then how to avoid gut discomfort. The internet was the preferred way to get that information.

The authors are frank about the limits. The sample came mainly through Celiac Canada and academic networks and skewed towards people who are health-conscious and well educated: 91.3% were women, 91.4% identified as White, and more than half had household incomes of $100,000 or more. Diagnoses and diets were self-reported, the survey was online only, the bean score counted only dry and canned beans (not bean pasta or wraps) and hasn't been formally validated, and none of the individual barriers stayed significant once the authors corrected for testing 20 of them at once. A survey like this shows associations, not that cooking lessons would change what people eat. The authors call for trials of how well people with coeliac disease tolerate beans and what eating more of them does over time. The study was funded by the University of Guelph, and the authors declared no conflicts of interest.