<<Disclaimer: Verify this information before applying it to your situation.>> In my previous post I commented that I was avoiding garfava flour (which is a mixture of garbanzo bean and fava bean flour) because of favism. I got questions asking what is favism. I am basically concerned because I usually only have gf bread/cake, etc in my house so that is all I would offer guests plus I am periodically asked to provide bread/cake for others in my community that need a wheat free/gluten free product (I also keep kosher which limits what is commercially available in the local stores). I may not know ahead who is eating the food so want to learn to make items that can be eaten by everyone without having to worry about potential favism, because there are people in my community that do have favism. If I can get an acceptable product without increasing a risk to even one person then I don't feel justified to use garfava flour. Another reason is people don't expect to find fava flour in bread/baked goods and so someone with favism would not expect to ask if it is in my baked goods. This just reenforced my personal belief that using fava flour is not acceptable in my kitchen. Favism is an inherited disorder which is a deficiency of Glucose-6- phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD). Individuals with this deficiency are usually asymptomatic, however exposure to various drugs, moth balls and various forms of broad/fava beans including the pollen can trigger a reaction. This chemical can be transmitted through breast milk. The reaction is Haemolytic anaemia, which is a type of anaemia where the red blood cells breakdown. In extreme cases the individual may require a blood transfusion and it can cause death (this is usually only occurs in children.) Another reason I don't want to use garfava flour is that people don't expect to find bread/baked goods made from fava This disorder is estimated to affect 200 million worldwide and is found mainly in Southern Europe (currently Sardinia has about 7.5% of the population with G6PD, however in the past as much as 35% of the population has had this deficiency), Africa, China (5% of Hong Kong males have this), Kurdish Jewish (50%), Southeast Asia, and Oceania. However it could be found in virtually any population. It is estimated that less than 1 out of 1000 of the white population in Northern Europe have this disorder. Of interest is that apparently they are finding that a trigger (possibly an infection) is also necessary at the time of exposure to the food/drug to have a reaction. So a person with G6PD can eat fava beans every day and have no reaction and then one day have the reaction. There are tests available to determine if you have G6PD. If you want to know more use a search engine, enter G6PD or favism and you will get alot of sites. Many articles from medical journals have been put on the web. Betsey Carus Baltimore, MD USA