Scientific Insight To My Observation on Beans

Scientific Insight To My Observation on Beans

Note: This article is the view of the author/writer as based on his physiological and biological knowledge based on his studies and observation of the food over the years. He made some contacts with people, old and young on what they feel about what he is writing into before penciling down this. This observation is in no wise authoritative, but it is to the writer’s views that what he raises here could be researched into by the authorities to arrive at a more verifiable conclusions for the world.

Beans

Introduction

Food in biology is any substance containing nutrients, such as carbohydrates, proteins, and fats, that can be ingested by a living organism and metabolized into energy and body tissue. It is a well developed finding and fact that when foods enter our bodies they are broken down into their constituents before being absorbed into the body or blood stream.

One food well recommended for all and sundry globally to be taken regularly is beans. This food belongs to the legume family. It is a well circulated fact in this part of the world that when this food is taken it stays longer in the system. As such those who do hard jobs like to take this kind of food. Why does it stay longer in our systems? It stays longer not only because of the fiber and healthy starches it contains but also because of its effect on a small region of the body called thirsty center located in the brain. This center receives more stimulation and thus craving for more water.

Thirst Center

It has been discovered by the researchers that the primary thirst center is located in a region called hypothalamus in the brain. This structure is a deep structure which is also responsible for regulating body temperature, sleep, appetite, circadian rhythm, sexual behavior and emotional responses.

Special sensors in the hypothalamus are constantly monitoring the blood's concentration of sodium and other substances.

Anatomical Description

The hypothalamus where the primary thirst center is located is said to be a small region of the brain located at the base of the brain adjacent to the pituitary gland. It has three main regions which are anterior, middle and posterior. Each of these regions has cluster of nuclei which functions in producing hormones.

Online Wikipedia says, hypothalamus derives its name from Greek “ὑπό, under and θάλαμος, chamber.”

Physiologic View

There are special sensors in the hypothalamus which monitor on a constant basis the blood’s concentration of sodium and other metabolites. When these sensors in the thirst center detect a change in the blood level of the sodium ion [Na⁺] a message would be sent out which would be felt as thirst, this would now drive the organism, human being, to ingest water.

This change in the osmolarity level may act directly on the osmoreceptors to stimulate the hypothalamus directly or cause a release of the angiotensin II which would again act on the hypothalamus to cause thirst.

It should be stated that the hypothalamus of a dehydrated person also releases a substance called antidiuretic hormone ((ADH) also known as vasopressin) through the posterior pituitary gland. This substance ADH “talks” to kidneys to recover water from the urine, this happens through re-absorption which will dilute the plasma, reducing the effects of the ions in the plasma.

All these work in synchronicity not as if working in isolation from one another. After the needed water has been taken and reabsorbed, the firing would stop with a negative feedback send to the hypothalamus which will in effect stop the production of the substances responsible for the thirst stimulation and the water reabsorption.

Well before now it has been the belief of scientists, physiologists, that hypothalamus is the main region controlling the thirst center of mammals, but this could not be totally true because it is noticed that when a person takes water into his mouth the water starts comforting, the thirst stops. Christopher Zimmerman in 2016, investigates this and discovered that hypothalamus shuts down immediately mice takes water into its mouth. This he and his colleagues show with “flexible optical fibers implanted near the hypothalamus to watch the activity of thirst neurons as mice drank salty water”. They discover that sensory signals from mouth and throat make the thirst neuron in hypothalamus to shut down immediately the salt water is in the mouth of the mice. But after the drink, the animals not satisfied with what they drank, the neurons switched on again alerting the brain that the osmolality is still high.

To ascertain where the signals are coming from these researchers infused liquid directly into the gut of the thirsty mice as they watched the ongoing activities in their thirst neurons. It was discovered by them that infusing water directly into the gut of the animals’ act in the same way as taking a drink act, deactivating the cells, reducing the osmolality.

Thirst Pathway

On another note they discovered that after salt fluid is being infused directly into the gut and the animals are given normal water, the thirst center went quiet at the initial, but after sensing that the water is not enough it resumes firing that more water is needed to bring the osmolality to normal.

The above results show that sensors in the mouth and throat that Zimmerman discovered in 2016 allows the brain to temporarily shut down the thirst firing, but afterwards review this decision based on the second level of sensors present in the gut (probably at the beginning of the small intestine) and tells the animal whether to keep drinking or stop drinking water.

This research shows that signals from the gut is needed to quench thirst, however, the osmolality of the blood needs to have been increased before this can happen.

To study the means of traveling of the signals to the brain a technique called optogenetics is used. This technique allows for scientists to activate or shut down particular groups of neurons using beams of lights. And it has been discovered that the signals from the gut travel through the vagus nerve to the brain to activate the thirst neurons. This study using mice has opened a new chapter in researching into this thirst center in mammals. From the ScienceDaily, University of California, San Francisco.

Receptors

Definition

Google defines receptors as “biologically active substances located at the cell well (membranes) of the cells that accepts or receives impulses and transmits them into and out of the cells.”

They are structures on the surface of a cell or inside a cell (membrane) that selectively receives and binds a specific substance. They are of varying types, example is PXR which is thought to be involved in drug-drug interactions, and ligands are examples of receptors located on the outside of the cells.

Beans

Beans belong to the Fabaceae family and are classified as legumes. They are seeds from flowering plants which grow in pods. Other legumes are peas, peanuts and lentils.

There are various types of beans. As now, the world genebanks says there is about 40,000 varieties of beans with limited number produced for regular consumption.

Different types of beans

However, about 400 edible types are produced for consumption globally, out which are: Cannellini beans, Chickpeas, Fava beans, Great Northern beans, Kidney beans, Lima beans, Navy beans, Pinto beans. Most of these beans must be cooked before it becomes safe to be eaten.

Mechanism of Action (or How it Works)

Online Wikipedia says, many edible beans, including broad beans and soybeans contain oligosaccharides (particularly raffinose and stachyose), a type of sugar molecule found in cabbage. An anti-oligosaccharide enzyme is necessary to properly digest these sugar molecules, but normal human digestive tract does not contain anti-oligosaccharide enzymes. Thus, these consumed oligosaccharides are digested by bacteria in the large intestine of normal humans. This digestion produces flatulence, gases, as a byproduct. To reduce this flatulence effect of beans, what could be done is draining the water in which the beans have been cooked because sugars are soluble in water, this would drain off.

When the beans are ingested, they break down into protein, which are amino acids and other components (e.g. folate) in the body. Of all the beans, it is only the soybeans that contain all the nine amino acids. These proteins are essential for muscle building in the body.

However, the protein to which the beans are broken down into with the other ions in the blood increases the osmolality of the blood which send signals to the brain for reduce water in the blood. When the hypothalamus senses this, it would send hormones out which would be sensed as thirst by the body, as such more water would be drank by the person.

Through the intake of water people, in this part of the world say beans stay longer in the human body than other foods because you won’t be hungry quickly, for you will continue to drink water.

Foods Inhibiting or Reducing The Thirty Effect of Beans

This aspect of beans sometimes pisses off some people apart from the flatulent effect it has on the gastro-intestinal tract of the humans.

It has been noticed that when some foods and drinks are taken after eating beans, those foods and drinks reduce this effect on human systems. The examples of the foods and drinks are: Gari, bitter leaves, Citrus (orange, lime), warm water, Normal Coca-Cola and Pepsi.

Clean water

Water: Water contains hydrogen and oxygen, H₂O. water is considered to be a weak acid and when it gets into the body it dissociates into its hydrogen ion [H⁺] or hydroxonium ion [H₃O⁺] and hydroxyl ion [OH^-] in the human body systems. Online Wikipedia says, the self-ionization of water (also known as auto-ionization of water, and auto-dissociation of water) is an ionization reaction in pure water or in an aqueous solution, in which water molecule, H₂O, deprotonates (loses the nucleus of one of its hydrogen atoms) to become a hydroxide ion OH^-. The hydrogen nucleus, H⁺, immediately protonates another water molecule to form hydronium, H₃O⁺. it is an example of autoprotolysis and exemplifies the amphoteric nature of water.

H₂O_(l) + H₂O_(l) ⇌ H₃O⁺_(aq.) + OH⁻_(aq.)

Warm water: dissociates more than the cold water, thus, more effective in inhibiting the effect of beans on the thirst center.

Citrus

Citrus: Citrus fruits are from the Rutaceae family. They include oranges, grapefruits, limes and lemons. Orange (Citrus x sinensis) is among the world’s most popular fruits. Their origin couldn’t be clearly stated but it is assumed to have started in eastern Asia thousands of years ago. They have the followings as constituents: fiber, vitamin C, thiamine, folate and antioxidants. Lime (Citrus aurantiifolia), it contains essential oil, citric acid, invert sugar, citral, limonene etc.

Bitter Leaves (Vernonia Amygdalina)

Bitter Leaf: Vernonia amygdalina Delile (Bitter leaf) belongs to the family Asteraceae of the order of Asterales in the plant kingdom. It is found to grow throughout tropical Africa. It could reach 1-5 meters in height depending on the species of the plant. Some are bitter than others due to the genetic variations, climate changes and other factors. Vernonia amygdalina contains among others the followings: saponins, flavonoids, steroids, coumarins, phenolic acids, lignans, xanthones, edotides etc.

Coca-Cola And Pepsi: the followings are their ingredients. Coca-Cola has the following as ingredients; carbonated water, sugar (sucrose or high-fructose), caffeine, phosphoric acid v. caramel (E150d), flavorings (which include coca leaf extract) In the United States, Pepsi is made with carbonated water, high fructose corn syrup, caramel color, sugar, phosphoric acid, caffeine, citric acid, and natural flavors.

Garri

Gari: also known as garry, gali, tapioca. It is common in Nigeria, Cameroon, Sierra Leone, Benin, Togo and Ghana. components. It contains hydrocyanic acid (cyanide), which if too much in the body could lead to serious eye defects, intestinal diseases and worsening ulcers. Apart from this it is rich in fibers (not soluble in water), copper and magnesium, potassium, sodium, calcium, Sulphur, phosphorus, manganese, selenium, zinc and vitamins B6, C and E. it has no fats or cholesterol. Majority of its constituents is carbohydrates.

My Analysis (or View)

Using Christopher Zimmerman and his colleagues research assertion as documented by the University of California Science journal, I want to say that these above products (foods and drinks) get into the mouth the censors in the mouth detect them and when they are detected the thirst center in the hypothalamus would be inhibited to know what would be done.

After a while that those foods have gotten into the guts, they bind with some of the receptors that ought to generate signals that would be sent to the vagus nerve, which would initiate a signal to the brain to tell the body that she is still thirsty or not. By some of these products binding to these receptors, the generated chemical reactions would inhibit the action, thence preventing thirst center to send signals to the body for more intake of water as it has been happening assuming those foods are not ingested.

In the same wise some of these foods would enter into the blood stream thus bringing about increase in volume and thereby leading to a decrease in blood pressure which would be sensed by atrial wall and thereby sending signals to the renin-angiotensin system to inhibit further production of hormones that would stimulate more intake of water.

Suggestion

This could be looked into by researchers to know the pathways and if there are any receptors that cause the stimulation of thirst after the ingestion of beans and how these foods inhibit further intake of water if they do not follow the trend discussed here.