Culled from Vox.com
Whether you try to hide it or not, you fart….everybody does!...An average person farts between 10-20 times a day.
But even though it's a routine activity,there's a lot about farting that you might want to know.
As part of research into the rich community of bacteria that live throughout our body, scientists have learned all sorts of interesting things about the bacteria that produces gas inside our intestines.
Here are 9 important things to know about flatulence.
1. We produce about 500 to 1500 milliliters of gas per day, and expel it in 10 to 20 farts.
According to Purna Kashyap-a gastroenterologist at the Mayo clinic, A huge variety of foods like virtually all beans, most vegetables and anything with whole grains, contain complex carbs that we cannot fully digest. These foods end up in the large intestine, where microbes chew them apart and use them for energy, through the process of fermentation, and gas is produced as a by-product.
2. 99% of the gas we produce does not smell.
Hydrogen, Carbon Dioxide and Methane make up as much as 99% of the gas produced in our large intestines.All these gases are odorless, which why most of the time farts have no smell.
Research has found that the potent stink is largely due to the 1% or so of compounds with sulfur in them, for example onions, beans, cauliflower, brussels sprouts, broccoli and dairy.
3. Soda and Chewing gum makes you fart more.
A significant portion of fart is simply made up of inadvertently swallowed air, mostly nitrogen and oxygen.
Some of the swallowing occurs while we are asleep, but it can be increased by drinking carbonated beverages and by chewing gum.
4. Farting is the result of a healthy, complex ecosystem in our intestines.
It is unfortunate that modern society views flatulence-a byproduct of bacteria living in our intestines, a negative.
The same bacteria that produce gas also generate vitamins and fatty acids that help maintain our colon lining, and may support our immune systems.
5. There’s a simple reason why we don’t mind the smell of our own farts.
Human beings become habituated to all smells over time. That is why we become habituated to the characteristic mix of odors produced by the bacteria in our own body, which of course differs slightly from everyone else’s. As a result our own farts just don’t have the same impact on you- even though they are just as pungent for everyone else.
6. Yep! We can light a fart on fire..
Because flatulence is partly composed of flammable gases like methane and hydrogen, it can be briefly set on fire.
7. ..And Nope! We can not hold a fart until it disappears.
According to the physics of fart: A fart is a bubble of gas and there’s ultimately nowhere for it to go besides out of the anus.
At times, after holding in a fart for awhile, it can seem to disappear. This is because you stop being conscious of it and it leaks out gradually.
8. Beano® cuts down on gas production by starving the gut bacteria.
The over-the-counter product Beano® is found significantly reduce gas production in the hours following a bean-filled meal.
Beano contains an enzyme called alpha-galactoside that cut complex carbohydrates into shorter, simpler carbs that are much easier to digest. As a result , they get broken down in the small intestines, rather than making it all the way down to the large intestine, where bacteria would ferment them, producing gas.
9. Starving fart-producing bacteria is not really a good idea.
The amount of fart we produce is the result of both our diet and gut bacteria-unless we are experiencing problems like painful bloating, excessive amounts of gas due to lactose intolerance-it is not necessary to limit gas production.
However, many people who believe they suffer from excessive gas production actually just have trouble with the flow of gas through their intestines, probably due to constipation.
..So,please fart-along …LOL!
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