What is the list of food the favism child shouldn't eat?

Answer 1

My older brother had an episode with favism as a child (requiring a blood transfusion), and since then, my mother wouldn't ever feed us fava beans. We didn't know whether any of the rest of us had favism or not, but to be sure, we never ate fava beans. But near the end of last year, being older (30), I thought I'd give it a try, and I cooked up some fava beans. Within a few days, I became weak and jaundiced--evidence that I, too, am G6PD deficient (i.e., that I have favism). No blood transfusion was necessary, but the jaundice lasted for a couple of weeks.

The number one thing to avoid is definitely fava beans. They have high levels of the oxidizing chemicals vicine and convicine, which are red-blood-cell (RBC) destroyers for those of us with favism. Other beans are on the suspect list, but are really not a concern, because if they have any of these harmful (to favism patients) chemicals, they are very low. Just make sure he doesn't eat fava beans, and he should be fine.

I have a severe case of favism, where I actually have low level RBC loss all the time, indicated by biliruben levels that are consistently flagged high on all my blood tests. (My blood doctor suggested I take 1 mg of Folic Acid daily to help rebuild blood cells.) This is why I am trying to locate information that will show how much there is in different varieties of beans, but I have not found it yet. The closest I have come is a scientific journal article, which I have not obtained yet, but it seems promising, if not a very complete list. It is titled, "Occurrence of vicine and convicine in seeds of some Vicia species and other pulses" and is to be found in the Journal of the Canadian Institute of Food Science and Technology. J Can Inst Food Sci Technol Jan 1980. v. 13 (1) p. 35-39

But again, unless your child has a very severe case, I wouldn't have the slightest concern about other beans. There is a website that lists every edible legume "for G6PD-deficiency," but it seems a bit extreme to try to avoid all of that, when at worst, the symptoms are undetectable, and do not affect the quality of life. I still eat most beans, although I try not to gorge myself on them. :) I just want to know whether there are other beans that have relatively high levels of these chemicals.

P.S. I am not a doctor, so nothing stated here should be taken as medical advice.