Your fart and you
Health & Fitness By KEMI ILORI
Tuesday, August 21, 2007

What is "fart"? It is the gas we pass out from our anus. Medically, it is called FLATULENCE. Farting is an activity that no-one wants to talk about despite the fact that it is part of a normal living person. Do you know that everybody farts as long as they're alive? People even fart shortly after death.

Farting is one of the most embarrassing things that people do infront of others. A lot of comedians and artistes utilize this feeling to create humour and arrest attention. Even the late Fela Anikulapo had "Ya so" (translated to mean, ‘pass wind’ or ‘rip fart’) in one of his songs. Most people, irrespective of creed, age or race, would rather fart in private.

Why do we fart?: Farting is one of the ways we expel gas from within our bodies. We fart because we have a biological need to expel the trapped gas within us. Other ways are through belching, burping, etc. Only the air expelled from our anus is referred to as fart. The gas from other parts of our body are different and do not smell like fart does.

If we do not expel gas from our intestines by farting, we would be uncomfortable. This is because intra-abdominal pressure will build up inside us. This could cause a stomach ache from the gas pressure. It has been suggested that pathological distention of the bowel could result if a person holds in farts too much. That is why people feel relieved after farting.

Other living things fart as well. Termites fart as much as humans do and they suffer the ultimate damage when they hold their fart; they explode! You could always excuse yourself to go and fart if you feel pressured. Each person produces an average of about 14 farts daily (you may experiment by counting yours). The first fart is usually in the morning when you wake up; it is called "morning thunder"! When you wake up in the morning, let your thunder rip; it is natural. It is strange but true that women can fart through their front genitalia. This kind of fart is called a queef. Men do not.

Where does our fart come from? Fart is a mixture of gases that come from several sources and coalesces in the large intestine prior to being expelled. The three major sources are swallowed air, gas produced by the activity of bacteria in our large intestine and gas generated from other parts of our body.

Where does the smell come from? The gas produced by the activity of bacteria in our body is the major source of the smell of our fart. These bacteria are mostly beneficial bacteria that colonise our large intestine and live there. This is because the bacteria help to digest foods that the body cannot digest on its own. In the process, they produce these smelly gases (we all know what a compost smells, like because of bacterial activity). Such foods are mostly foods that are high in fibre, like beans, vegetables, like cabbage, broccoli, etc.

Other foods that emit smelly gases when digested are foods that are high in proteins (sulphur containing foods) like eggs, cheese, milk, etc. Where fart is concerned, beans are high fart generating foods because they are both high in fibre and protein. The most interesting thing is that fart generated by bacteria from fibre is very healthy!

The gases made from the fibre help to lower cholesterol and this is one of the reasons beans is a cholesterol lowering food! An example of such cholesterol lowering gas produced from fibre is butyric acid. Butyric acid has an unpleasant smell; it is the same smell that you get from your socks. The gas from high fibre foods do not smell as much as gas from sulphur-rich, low fibre foods, like eggs.

Please note that the gases from low fibre foods, like eggs and milk are not to be confused with that from high fibre foods, like beans and vegetables. Research has not shown the former to be healthy or beneficial. Such gases are high in nitrogen and include hydrogen sulphide, skatole, etc. Fart also usually contains oxygen and methane. If your food is a mixture of various foods, then, the gases in your fart will be configured as such i.e. mixed. Since we mostly eat a variety of foods, our fart consists of a mixture of gases.

These bacteria are good for us because they also help to synthesise some nutrients that the body cannot make on its own. I hope you are not bored, but I just had to analyse the source of the smell a bit. From the foregoing, you can see that how our fart smells depends on the type of food we ate, how much air we swallowed, what kinds of bacteria we have in our intestines, and how long we hold in the fart.
How do we expel fart and why the noise?

The gases that come out as fart are propelled through our colon (large intestine) by a series of contracting and relaxing movements of muscles of the colon, i.e. peristaltic movement. Peristalsis creates a zone of high pressure, forcing all intestinal contents, gas included, to move towards a region of lower pressure, which is toward the anus. Gas is more mobile than other components, and small bubbles coalesce to from larger bubbles en route to the exit. At the point of expulsion, a band of muscles, called the anal sphincter, relaxes to release the gas. The sounds are produced by vibrations of the anal opening. Sounds depend on the velocity of expulsion of the gas and the tightness of the sphincter muscles of the anus.

Farting etiquette: Etiquette refers to civilized and acceptable behaviour. We all know that it is embarrassing to be pinpointed as the fouler of the air. There are certain things you should bear in mind; do not eat a plate of beans, moin-moin or any other fart generating food a day before a board meeting, an important interview or cocktail. There is plenty of time to enjoy your healthy beans. When fart is released into a wide atmospheric area; the fart is not detected within a few seconds due to dilution.

Always bear in mind that, when the fart is released into a small enclosed area, such as an elevator, a small room, or a car; these conditions limit the amount of dilution possible, and the fart may remain in a smellable concentration for a long period of time, causing you some embarrassment and your co-occupants some discomfort, especially in the midst of strangers. A smelly fart is offensive to other people and you should try to consider their sensitivity. Try to wonder a little away from the crowd to do your farting. At home, let it rip!