Nothing clears a room like a smelly fart. Even though this gas, known scientifically as flatus, is a part of our daily lives, we still know surprisingly little about what goes into it. So which foods make us the gassiest, and which ones make for the stinkiest farts?
A smelly fart usually starts with carbohydrates, especially insoluble ones that make it through the stomach and upper intestinal tract without being absorbed, Dr. Ali Rezaie, a gastroenterologist at Cedars Sinai in Los Angeles, told Live Science. Bacteria populating the colon thrive on these unabsorbed sugars, which are “like high-octane fuel for them,” Rezaie said.
Although these carbs like fiber and starch weren’t absorbed higher in the gut because our bodies lack the enzymes to break them down, bacteria, like those in the phylum Firmicutes in the colon, digest them easily. In feasting on these carbs, the bacteria produce gas, which can turn into farts.
more at livescience.com
photo credit Aqua Mechanical Flickr
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