Baghala

What is Baghala?

Baghala is the broad bean, also called the fava bean. Its Latin name is Vicia faba. In Persian and Unani practice, the bean, its pods and its skins were used as food and as a home remedy.

It was given as a strengthening food, for coughs, and as a warm paste on boils and swellings. Today most people meet it as a plain food bean.

Long use shows that people trusted it. It is not proof that it works. Human trials on Baghala as a medicine are few and small, so the evidence here is weak.

One warning comes before all others. Some people are born without enough G6PD, a body protein that guards red blood cells. For them, eating these beans can be deadly.

How does Baghala work?

Broad beans act mostly as food. They bring protein, fibre, folate and minerals, and that is the clearest thing they do.

The bean also holds levodopa, the same drug used for Parkinson's disease. A few small studies have asked whether eating beans raises levodopa in the blood. The amount in beans swings widely, so it is not a dose you can trust.

Two other compounds, vicine and convicine, can break red blood cells apart. This happens only in people who lack G6PD. In them the bean is a danger, not a help.

The old Persian and Unani idea was simpler. The bean was seen as cooling and heavy, so it was paired with warm spices. That idea has not been tested in modern trials.

What forms does Baghala come in?

You can buy Baghala as fresh green beans in the pod, shelled fresh beans, dried beans, canned or frozen beans, bean flour, and roasted beans sold as a snack.

Dried pod skins are brewed as a tea in some homes. Persian and Unani texts also describe a mashed bean paste laid warm on the skin.

Capsules and powders sold for their levodopa content exist as well. These are not standard products, and the strength is rarely checked or printed on the label.

Where it comes from:

Broad beans are one of the oldest farmed crops of the Near East and the Mediterranean. People have grown them for thousands of years.

Persian and Unani writers list Baghala as both a food and a remedy. They used it to build flesh and strength, to ease a dry cough, and as a paste for swellings.

Greek and Egyptian writers knew that a few people fell very ill after eating the beans. Some groups banned them for that reason. The cause, a missing G6PD protein, was only worked out in the 20th century.

What does Baghala help with?

• Everyday nutrition and protein intake: This is the use with the firmest ground under it. Broad beans are a good source of plant protein, fibre, folate, iron and potassium. Food value is well measured, but that is nutrition science, not proof of a medical effect.
• Constipation: The fibre in cooked beans adds bulk to stools, as it does in other beans. No trial has tested broad beans on their own for this. Drink plenty of water if you eat more beans, and expect some wind at first.
• Parkinson's disease (a brain illness that affects movement): Broad beans hold levodopa, the main drug used for this illness. Small reports have described changes in symptoms after eating them. The dose in beans cannot be measured at home, so this is a research question, not a treatment. Never swap your prescribed medicine for beans.
• Cough and chest complaints (traditional use): Persian and Unani texts describe broad bean soup and pod-skin tea for a dry cough. We found no human trials on this. Warm fluid of any kind may soothe a throat, which may explain part of the old use.
• Boils and skin swellings (traditional paste): Mashed cooked beans were laid warm on boils and sore joints. The comfort may come mostly from the warmth and moisture. There is no trial evidence that the bean itself heals skin. Do not put any paste on broken or weeping skin.

What are the side effects of Baghala?

• Wind, bloating and stomach cramps
• Loose stools when you suddenly eat a lot
• Allergic reaction: itching, rash, swelling or trouble breathing
• Favism in people lacking G6PD: dark or red-brown urine, yellow skin or eyes, deep tiredness, pale colour, fast heartbeat
• Headache, nausea or a drop in blood pressure when very large amounts are eaten
• A sharp rise in blood pressure if you take an MAOI mood drug

Good to know:

For most people, wind and bloating are the only problems, and they settle as your gut gets used to beans.

Favism is rare in the general population but common in some families and regions. When it happens it is severe, comes on fast, and has killed children. That is why this page is marked high-risk.

Allergy to broad beans is uncommon but real, and can be sudden.