Is Farting Bad for You?

[KingGeno]

Hey Dr. Steve,

You rock. I hope all is going well. I have a general question about something I've always wondered.

Is expelling flatulence or ripping farts whenever one has gas a good idea? Could excessive farting cause any problems? I assume that the gas is just leftover from the breakdown process, but is it also used for propelling or aiding the movement of poo out of your body? Could you fart too much, and end up constipating yourself or drying your poo out?

Thanks again. I was just curious.

-Gene

[Dr Steve]

Hey Dr. Steve,

You rock. I hope all is going well. I have a general question about something I've always wondered.

Is expelling flatulence or ripping farts whenever one has gas a good idea? Could excessive farting cause any problems? I assume that the gas is just leftover from the breakdown process, but is it also used for propelling or aiding the movement of poo out of your body? Could you fart too much, and end up constipating yourself or drying your poo out?

Thanks again. I was just curious.

-Gene

Geno:

Ok, add another one to the Christmas show question list! :-)

Farts have a medical name (as does everything gross, because we can't handle just calling things "poo" or "farts" apparently): flatus, which actually points to the gas itself, rather than the act of passing the gas. We would say "the patient expelled flatus", when talking about how someone farted during an exam.

From Wikipedia: Flatulence is the presence of a mixture of gases in the digestive tract of mammals. Such a mixture of gases is known as flatus, and is expelled from the rectum in a process colloquially known as "farting", among other terms.

Ok, anyway, gas in the bowel comes from two places: fermentation and swallowed air. Most class clowns know that if you swallow air, you can pump up your stomach and burp at will (we call burps "eructations", but that's another thread). Well, those kids never expel all of the air by burping, and some of it enters the intestines. Once it does this, it must be expelled as a fart. Even if you don't do it on purpose, many people swallow air as they eat or drink...this is called aerophagia.

You can also swallow dissolved gas, as in carbonated beverages. Again, we all know about drinking a coke and then burping like crazy; not all of the gas is released above, so the rest of the carbondioxide must be released below.

Food that cannot be fully digested by the intestinal tract can be fodder for the bacteria we harbor in there...many indigestible sugars can be easily digested by yeast and bacteria in a process called fermentation. The byproduct from this can be a multitude of gases, from carbon dioxide to hydrogen sulfide (fart gas) and methane (flammable fart gas).

Gas is simply a byproduct of the whole process; you should feel free to pass gas whenever the urge hits you (balanced by reasonable societal pressures); not passing it can lead to colonic distension and crampy pain and increased pressures in the colon.

You can't dry out your poo by farting, but be careful it's actually a fart, of course. I had a friend once who was going to a business meeting in her car; she was taking Xenical, which is a fat blocking drug and the side effects, according to the package insert, include "anal leakage" and "diarrhea". So anyway, she feels a fart coming on and releases it normally, only to realize she's just shit herself.

So that's the downside to farting, I guess. That and your friends and coworkers knowing it was you stinking up the place. Although flatus doesn't really smell that bad for the most part, it's knowing that what's now in your nose was up someone's ass not 5 seconds ago that makes it really bad.

Feces ("what once was food, 'tis now naught but fecal matter" ---Hamlet Act IV) gets out of the body by "peristalsis", the regular and rhythmic squeezing of the intestines, pushing stuff out. Although sometimes it seems like gas behind a bolus of turd is pushing it out, the body in no way relies on this mechanism, so again, you're good to go if the urge hits you to expel flatus, keeping the above caveats in mind.


your pal,



Steve

[reillyluck]

Toot Toot.

[fezident]

Great. Now I'm starvin'.

[Contra]

That was very informative

[CHUCKWAGONCOOK]

That's a load of shit. It really stinks. Smells like someone is lying. Hey Dr. Steve? Pull my finger. hahahhahahahha

[cougarjake13]

while im no doctor i always knew that if the body wants to get rid of it then it must be bad to hold it on


i know have the medical proof to back up what ive been saying to friends, famil, strangers, all along


thanks dr steve

[KingGeno]

Wow. Thanks so much for taking the time to answer the question. :)

You are the best. :drunk:

THanks for the great info. I always wondered if ripping ones over and over would cause a problem.

You mentioned people swallowing air to burp, and some of that actually gets sucked down into the intestines. That's very interesting, and I never knew that. Since this is true, could a person who heavily works out and does a lot of heavy breathing could run the risk of "inflating their body", thus feeling bloated?

[west milly Tom]

I love Doctor Steve.

[patsopinion]

Great. Now I'm starvin'.

ey earl we got any flatus bread back there?

[boosterp]

Since this is true, could a person who heavily works out and does a lot of heavy breathing could run the risk of "inflating their body", thus feeling bloated?

That depends on the type of breathing and your physiology. Do you have reflux, do you burp while working out?

Do you drink a lot of sodas, beer, or eat fatty foods, to quickly?

When I did my rotation through the ER I had an internest that would look at a KUB (xray showing the bowels etc) and point out "potential farts." These were the gas pockets in between the food matter in your intestines. It was quite funny for us medical types.

But, what Dr. Steve mentioned, and what I asked above; the elemination or reduction of these things can reduce your farts.

The stink factor, well that is another question in itself.

Oh, the main issue causing constipation is not drinking enough water. The second issue that causes the most constipation is certain medications. Fluid is mainly absorbed in the first half of your large intestine, not enough equals a hard shit.

[Dr Steve]

You mentioned people swallowing air to burp, and some of that actually gets sucked down into the intestines. That's very interesting, and I never knew that. Since this is true, could a person who heavily works out and does a lot of heavy breathing could run the risk of "inflating their body", thus feeling bloated?

well, it depends on whether the heavy breathing leads to "aerophagia". Some people just naturally swallow a lot of air, most don't. You can breathe hard (e.g., long distance running) and not force any air into your stomach; I bet a lot of them do swallow a lot of air when they drink water while they're running though.

Aerophagia in quantity will lead to bloating and flatulence.

Here are some risk factors for aerophagia: smoking cigs, chewing gum, and SLEEP APNEA MACHINES. If you have sleep apnea and use CPAP or BiPAP and you're bloated all the time, burping and farting like a maniac, your pressures may be set too high, or you need to reposition your head while you sleep.

For some reason, the mentally challenged have an increased risk for aerophagia, which probably stems from lack of coordination of the swallowing reflex.

Severe aerophagia can lead to inflation of the stomach, with reflux-under-pressure of gastric contents into the esophagus (and even into the lungs).

ey earl we got any flatus bread back there?

that made me laugh out loud for real. perfect!

[hexy68]

farting ain't bad for you...but it kinda sucks for the person standing next to ya :surrender: