If you've been diagnosed with peptic ulcers, eating beans will not make your ulcers worse. Foods do not cause ulcers and only acidic or spicy food typically causes discomfort after eating if you have peptic ulcers. If you develop a burning sensation after eating beans, you may be confusing ulcer pain with heartburn. Talk with your doctor about your symptoms.
Peptic Ulcers
Ulcers are open wounds that develop in the lining of the digestive system that can cause pain and discomfort between meals or after eating certain foods. Ulcers were once thought to be the result of eating too many spicy foods or stress, but updated research has determined that stress and food do not cause ulcers to develop, according to MayoClinic.com. The most common cause of ulcers is an infection caused by the H. pylori bacteria, which causes the protective lining of your digestive system to weaken and eventually, erodes the layer. This exposes the soft tissue underneath to harsh digestive chemicals.
Beans
Eating beans should not trigger ulcer symptoms. Eating in general typically helps to alleviate pain from ulcers, according to FamilyDoctor.org. When you eat, the food can help protect ulcers from exposure to the harsh digestive acids that cause pain. If you notice that every time you eat beans you develop ulcer pain, you may have another condition or you may be consuming the beans with another food ingredient that is aggravating the ulcer. Common food irritants include spicy foods, caffeine and alcohol.
Heartburn Confusion
A painful, burning sensation that develops after eating beans may be a sign of heartburn and not a peptic ulcer. Symptoms of heartburn and an ulcer are difficult to distinguish because they both cause pain in the upper portion of your body after eating. If you feel pain behind your breastbone, along with the feeling of fullness that is alleviated with over-the-counter antacids, you are experiencing heartburn, not pain from an ulcer. Heartburn is not a condition but rather a symptom. If you develop heartburn more than twice a week, you may have a condition called gastroesophageal reflux disease, or GERD.
Considerations
If you develop sharp abdominal pain that doesn't subside, have blood in your stools or blood in your vomit, call your doctor right away. These may be signs of a complication from having a peptic ulcer.
