Stachyose legume

Stachyose is present in the seeds of most food legumes, and has been recognized as a compound responsible for flatulence (see Section II,2,f). 

Occurrence in plants used for human and animal food is very common, so the raffinose oligosaccharides may be of some nutritional significance. For example, the seeds of food legumes often contain raffinose in amounts equal to or greater than the amounts of sucrose. Cottonseed and soybean meals (after oil extraction) are fairly rich in raffinose and stachyose, respectively.80 86... 

Soybeans are an abundant source of stachyose, which amounts to 2 to 3% of their weight. Georges Tanret36 first identified stachyose from this material, and worked out a general method for isolation of stachyose from legumes. 

Rafifinose, stachyose, verbascose and ajugose in legume seeds... 

Gas production (flatulence) in the stomach or intestines produced by legumes originates from the sugar stachyose (cf. 16.2.5). When this tetrasac-charide is cleaved by a-D-galactosidase, flatulency from this source is eliminated. 

Oligosaccharides in legumes are present in higher concentration than in cereals. Predominant in this fraction are sucrose, stachyose and verbascose (Table 16.21). 

Stachyose a-D-Galp-(1->6)-a-D-Galp-(1-> 6)-a-D-Glcp-(1-e 2)-p-D-Fruf Legumes, grapes, artichokes ... 

Legumes Latin name Saccharose Raffinose Stachyose Verbascose... 

Tetrasaccharides Stachyose Galal 6Gala1 6Glca1 2Fru/ Legume seeds Yes... 

The other major breakdown products of carbohydrate fermentation are hydrogen, methane, and carbon dioxide, which together comprise flatus gas. Excess gas production can cause distension and pain in some individuals, especially if they attempt to increase their fiber consumption too abruptly. In most cases, however, extreme flatus is probably caused more by fermentation of oligosaccharides such as stachyose and verbascose, which are fovmd principally in legume seeds, rather than the cell wall polysaccharides themselves. 

---