MelissaA
Brenton
Shilpa Karhik
Morning Thunder, The Facts On FLATULENCE
July 6th 2007 00:25
We all do it! There are those who will deny it, but even dead people fart!
Fifteen Flatulent Facts:
1. The average number of farts a person expels in one day is between 9 and 17.
2. Most of us pass somewhere between 200 and 2,000 ml of gas per day - the average is about 600 ml.
3. Farts are composed of: nitrogen, oxygen, carbon dioxide, hydrogen, and methane.
4. Gas gets into our guts by swallowing air (only a small amount), bacterial production within the bowel and colon (which accounts for a lot), and gas diffusion from our blood.
5. Gases produced in the bowel's interior space or lumen -- the carbon dioxide, hydrogen, and methane -- accumulate when the digestive system's assortment of resident bacteria, acting like microscopic gas factories, begin the task of digesting our latest meal.
6. Fart gases are variable depending on what we ate, how much air we swallowed, what kinds of bacteria we have in our intestines, and how long we hold in the fart.
7. The longer a fart is held in, the larger the proportion of inert nitrogen it contains, because the other gases tend to be absorbed into the bloodstream through the walls of the intestine.
8. The odour of farts comes from small amounts of hydrogen sulfide gas and mercaptans in the mixture. These compounds contain sulfur. Nitrogen-rich compounds such as skatole and indole also add to the stench of farts. The more sulfur-rich your diet, the more sulfides and mercaptans will be produced by the bacteria in your guts, and the more your farts will stink. Foods such as cauliflower, eggs and meat are notorious for producing smelly farts.
9. Women fart just as much as men. however scientific studies have shown that women's farts have a higher concentration of odour-causing gases than men's farts, but men's farts have a larger volume.
10. Beans contain sugars that humans cannot digest. The most offensive sugars, known as "flatulence factors" to scientists who research farts, are raffinose, stachiose, and verbascose. When these sugars reach our intestines, the bacteria go wild, have a big feast, and make lots of gas!
11. Other notorious fart-producing foods include corn, bell peppers, cauliflower, cabbage, milk, bread, eggs, beer, and raisins. People unable to digest milk due to lactose intolerance will suffer extreme flatulence if they consume dairy products.
12. Roman Emperor Claudius once passed a law legalising farting at banquets out of concern for people's health. There was a widespread belief that a person could be poisoned or catch a disease by retaining farts.
13. When you hold in a fart, it is neither released nor absorbed. It simply migrates back upward into the intestine and comes out later.
14. And finally for the big question I'm sure you've all been waiting for....... Yes! It really is possible to light a fart! But be warned, many have burnt themselves and/or their clothing in the process!
Farts burn because they contain hydrogen and/or methane, both of which are flammable gases.
15. Farts burn with a blue or yellow flame. A blue flame is indicative of the presence of methane in the flatus. Since only one-third of the population consistently produce methane to begin with, an exclusive club called the Royal Order of the Blue Flame has since been established.
Fifteen Flatulent Facts:
1. The average number of farts a person expels in one day is between 9 and 17.
2. Most of us pass somewhere between 200 and 2,000 ml of gas per day - the average is about 600 ml.
3. Farts are composed of: nitrogen, oxygen, carbon dioxide, hydrogen, and methane.
4. Gas gets into our guts by swallowing air (only a small amount), bacterial production within the bowel and colon (which accounts for a lot), and gas diffusion from our blood.
5. Gases produced in the bowel's interior space or lumen -- the carbon dioxide, hydrogen, and methane -- accumulate when the digestive system's assortment of resident bacteria, acting like microscopic gas factories, begin the task of digesting our latest meal.
6. Fart gases are variable depending on what we ate, how much air we swallowed, what kinds of bacteria we have in our intestines, and how long we hold in the fart.
7. The longer a fart is held in, the larger the proportion of inert nitrogen it contains, because the other gases tend to be absorbed into the bloodstream through the walls of the intestine.
8. The odour of farts comes from small amounts of hydrogen sulfide gas and mercaptans in the mixture. These compounds contain sulfur. Nitrogen-rich compounds such as skatole and indole also add to the stench of farts. The more sulfur-rich your diet, the more sulfides and mercaptans will be produced by the bacteria in your guts, and the more your farts will stink. Foods such as cauliflower, eggs and meat are notorious for producing smelly farts.
9. Women fart just as much as men. however scientific studies have shown that women's farts have a higher concentration of odour-causing gases than men's farts, but men's farts have a larger volume.
10. Beans contain sugars that humans cannot digest. The most offensive sugars, known as "flatulence factors" to scientists who research farts, are raffinose, stachiose, and verbascose. When these sugars reach our intestines, the bacteria go wild, have a big feast, and make lots of gas!
11. Other notorious fart-producing foods include corn, bell peppers, cauliflower, cabbage, milk, bread, eggs, beer, and raisins. People unable to digest milk due to lactose intolerance will suffer extreme flatulence if they consume dairy products.
12. Roman Emperor Claudius once passed a law legalising farting at banquets out of concern for people's health. There was a widespread belief that a person could be poisoned or catch a disease by retaining farts.
13. When you hold in a fart, it is neither released nor absorbed. It simply migrates back upward into the intestine and comes out later.
14. And finally for the big question I'm sure you've all been waiting for....... Yes! It really is possible to light a fart! But be warned, many have burnt themselves and/or their clothing in the process!
Farts burn because they contain hydrogen and/or methane, both of which are flammable gases.
15. Farts burn with a blue or yellow flame. A blue flame is indicative of the presence of methane in the flatus. Since only one-third of the population consistently produce methane to begin with, an exclusive club called the Royal Order of the Blue Flame has since been established.
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