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Have you ever been in a situation where escaping farts caused you enormous embarrassment, so you had to hold them in? Let’s face it – we’ve all been in this situation.
Trying to hold in a fart leads to increasing pressure and great discomfort. Accumulation of gas in the gastrointestinal tract can cause abdominal distension, because some of the gas is absorbed back into the bloodstream and expelled through the breath.
Holding in a fart for too long means the accumulated gas will eventually escape uncontrollably.
Research is uncertain whether an increase in pressure in your rectum increases your chance of developing a condition called diverticulitis, where small pouches occur in the intestinal lining and become inflamed – or not at all.
What is flatus?
By flatus or escaping wind we mean intestinal gases that enter the rectum as a result of the usual gastrointestinal processes of digestion and metabolism and then exit the anal opening.
When your body digests food in the small intestine, components that cannot be broken down move further along the digestive tract and eventually reach the large intestine.
Intestinal bacteria break them down by fermentation. This process produces gases and byproducts called fatty acids, which are reabsorbed and used in immune metabolic pathways and disease prevention.
Gases can be reabsorbed by the intestinal wall into the bloodstream and eventually exhaled by the lungs or escape the rectum as flatus.
How many farts are normal?
For scientists it can be challenging to get people to participate in experiments measuring farts. Fortunately, healthy adults volunteered to calculate the amount of gas released per day.
All the gas that was released over 24 hours was collected with a rectal catheter (ow!). They ate normally, but had to consume 200 grams of beans in tomato sauce to increase flatulence.
Over 24 hours they produced an average of 705 ml of gas, but amounts ranged from 476 to 1,490 ml per person.
The largest volume was gaseous hydrogen (361 ml per 24 hours), followed by carbon dioxide (68 ml per 24 hours). Methane, ranging from 3 ml/24 h to 120 ml/24 h, was produced by only three adults. The remaining gases, mostly nitrogen, made up about 213 ml/24 hours.
Men and women produced approximately the same amount of gas and the average was eight episodes of flatus per 24 hours. Volume ranged from 33 to 125 ml per emission, with a greater amount of intestinal gas released within one hour after eating.
Gas was also produced during their sleep, but only half as much compared with daytime (average 16 ml/h versus 34 ml/h).
Flatus
In a study of dietary fiber and flatus, researchers examined what happens to intestinal gas production when people are given a high-fiber diet.
Researchers had healthy adult volunteers eat their usual diet for seven days and consume 30 grams of psyllium as a source of soluble fiber.
During the day they were instructed to add 10 grams of psyllium – about one heaped tablespoon to each meal.
At the end of each week participants arrived at the laboratory where a carefully controlled experiment was conducted.
They found that a diet rich in psyllium fiber led to longer initial retention of gas, but the volume remained the same, meaning the farts were less frequent but stronger.
What are farts made of?
Gas in the intestines comes from various sources. It can come from swallowed air or carbon dioxide produced when stomach acid mixes with bicarbonate in the small intestine. Alternatively, gases can be formed by bacteria found in the large intestine.
Although these gases play specific roles that affect health, excessive intestinal gas production can cause bloating, pain, borborygmus (rumbling in the abdomen), belching and frequent flatulence.
Foul-smelling farts are caused by gases containing sulfur. This was confirmed by a study of 16 healthy adults who were fed beans and lactulose, a non-absorbable carbohydrate that fermented in the gut.
The odor intensity of the flatus samples was assessed by two judges (poor people).
The good news was that in a subsequent experiment scientists found that the smell of gas can be removed with a layer of activated charcoal.
And finally, bad news for those who fly often: cabin pressurization means that due to the increased volume of gas at the lower pressure in the cabin you will be more likely to release gas than on the ground.
Apart from current elements that reduce noise, it is more likely that your farts will be noticed by your fellow passengers.
What should you do?
If you feel that a large amount of intestinal gas is about to do what it usually does, try to move to a more appropriate place. Whether you can manage it or not, the best thing you can do for your digestion and your body is to let it out.
