The reason I asked you which beans is because beans differ in digestibility. Kidney beans and pinto beans are at one end of that spectrum.
I don’t eat kidney beans, pinto beans, and matpe beans (urad dal) for the most part, and I minimize consumption of chickpeas and Bengal gram (chana dal).
I don’t have trouble with most other beans and lentils (soaked and cooked with the various aids).
So you might want to consider switching to other beans if you consistently encounter digestive reactions to specific beans.
I looked for research on soaking, baking soda, etc — turns out there is some research that adding baking soda to soaking water dissolves more oligosaccharides than soaking in plain water.
I’ve used baking soda when soaking chickpeas and gigantes beans (for the skins and to reduce splitting), but I can always taste it, so I avoid using it.
Also interesting was research that soaking in hot water speeds up / increases the rate of oligosaccharides dissolving. I do that when I’m in a rush, but now I’ll do it every time.
The other interesting science was on pressure cooking — it also breaks down oligosaccharides more than not pressure cooking. I always cook beans and lentils in the pressure cooker (after soaking) because it’s cultural norm for indian cooking — first pressure cook beans and lentils (after soaking), then temper oil with asafoetida, turmeric, cumin, mustard, etc, and continue with cooking per the recipe.
Sprouting also aids digestion, and also increases nutrients, but it doesn’t make sense to sprout all beans — I mostly soak smaller beans like green moong and red moth, but one could soak and sprout pretty much any legume.
