The Edamame or the Edamame bean are often found in Chinese, Japanese and Hawaiian food. They are basically soy beans which are immature in the pod.
Edamame beans are usually served in the pods by boiling or steaming them. It is today seen as a very healthy food and is often found in the frozen section of grocery stores.
So can guinea pigs eat edamame beans and if so how much can they eat?
As usual we’ll look at its nutritional data to discover more about it.
Energy 509 kJ (122 kcal)
Carbohydrates 9.94 g
– Sugars 2.18 g
– Dietary fiber 5.2 g
Fat 5.2 g
Protein 10.88 g
Iron 2.27 mg (17%)
Thiamine (vit. B1) 0.2 mg (17%)
Riboflavin (vit. B2) 0.155 mg (13%)
Niacin (vit. B3) 0.915 mg (6%)
Pantothenic acid (B5) 0.395 mg (8%)
Vitamin B6 0.1 mg (8%)
Folate (vit. B9) 311 μg (78%)
Vitamin C 6.1 mg (7%)
Vitamin E 0.68 mg (5%)
Vitamin K 26.8 μg (26%)
Calcium 63 mg (6%)
Magnesium 64 mg (18%)
Manganese 1.024 mg (49%)
Phosphorus 169 mg (24%)
Potassium 436 mg (9%)
Zinc 1.37 mg (14%)
(source: Wikipedia)
What we are looking at are the phosphorus, fat, sugar, oxelates, and calcium content of the edamame bean. A healthy amount of vitamin a and c is also very welcome as guinea pigs need to consume vitamin c as they can’t create it themselves.
As you can see it is particularly high in phosphorus, and contains small amounts of calcium, fats and sugars.
Guinea pigs can eat Edamame beans, but as they do have a particularly high amount of phosphorus, Edamame beans should only be fed as treat to guinea pigs. Once or twice a month at the most. That’s of course, if they will eat them.
Can guinea pigs eat Edamame shells?
Edamame shells can be eaten but they are very tough to eat and it is best to stick to the beans.