Uncooked pulses

[amura]

I am soaking some lentils for the humans of the family to eat, when I thought I could feed some to the gerbils too.
According to LilyandDaisy great safe/unsafe foods guide (thanks!) lentils and beans should be cooked. 

Which got me wondering, why is that so?
Is it because of the anti-nutrients (or whaterver they are colled) which they have? Or because of the bloating? For humans the soaking solves or minimizes those problems, maybe it does for gerbils too?
And split lentils (without their skin) would also be a problem?

Just out of curiosity! ^-^

[LilyandDaisy]

That's a good question.

The reason I suggested they should be cooked is because of the anti-nutrients known as lectins which can cause digestive upset or discomfort. They can also reduce the absorption of nutrients.

Lectin content does vary between different types of beans or pulses but I haven't yet been able to look into comparative levels among different pulses. The suggestion to feed all of them cooked is a general one, erring on the side of safety and not necessarily correct/necessary for every pulse. Some pulses, such as lentils and mung beans, are commonly included in rodent foods in a raw state without causing obvious harm, whereas others, such as kidney beans, are absolutely unsafe to eat raw as their very high lectin content causes food poisoning-like symptoms.

It seems that soaking pulses does reduce their lectin content like cooking them, but might not be sufficient to make pulses with a very high lectin content safe. Lentils have a fairly low lectin content however, and, as I say, people do sometimes feed them raw without obvious problems. I think soaked lentils are likely safe to feed to gerbils.

Thanks for asking this as the question has made me aware of a topic I need to look into more and expand on in the list.

[amura]

That makes sense.
For example I never slow-cook kidney beans, I've always heard they must actually boil to be safe for (human) consumption because of the amount of anti-nutrients. If it's also an issue for rodents, it's probably best to stay away from them.
But my family eats lentils and chickpeas way more often than beans, so it would be nice to be able to give the little ones half a teaspoon now and then ^-^