diff --git a/CHANGES.txt b/CHANGES.txt
index d12acc953c..3a9eb2be7d 100644
--- a/CHANGES.txt
+++ b/CHANGES.txt
@@ -34,6 +34,7 @@ Merged from 2.0:
  * Fix IllegalStateException in CqlPagingRecordReader (CASSANDRA-7198)
  * Fix the InvertedIndex trigger example (CASSANDRA-7211)
  * Add --resolve-ip option to 'nodetool ring' (CASSANDRA-7210)
+ * reduce garbage on codec flag deserialization (CASSANDRA-7244) 
 Merged from 1.2:
  * Add Cloudstack snitch (CASSANDRA-7147)
  * Update system.peers correctly when relocating tokens (CASSANDRA-7126)
diff --git a/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/cql3/QueryOptions.java b/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/cql3/QueryOptions.java
index 5801d55887..9c2876213f 100644
--- a/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/cql3/QueryOptions.java
+++ b/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/cql3/QueryOptions.java
@@ -278,14 +278,15 @@ public abstract class QueryOptions
             TIMESTAMP,
             NAMES_FOR_VALUES;
 
+            private static final Flag[] ALL_VALUES = values();
+
             public static EnumSet<Flag> deserialize(int flags)
             {
                 EnumSet<Flag> set = EnumSet.noneOf(Flag.class);
-                Flag[] values = Flag.values();
-                for (int n = 0; n < values.length; n++)
+                for (int n = 0; n < ALL_VALUES.length; n++)
                 {
                     if ((flags & (1 << n)) != 0)
-                        set.add(values[n]);
+                        set.add(ALL_VALUES[n]);
                 }
                 return set;
             }