Have you ever experienced this in public? You farted and made an awful sound out of nowhere, and you thought of hiding yourself somewhere! Farting is, in fact, a very normal physiological phenomenon. A fart is a kind of gas, and it enters our bodies while we eat and drink. However, our bodies do not need such excessive gas, and hence it has to be released. The gas that comes out through our mouth is called burping whereas the gas that comes out through our buttocks is called fart!   

However, why are there times when we fart more often? One of those reasons is because we eat too fast, or we talk while we eat, leading us to easily swallow air at the same time. Those who often eat chewing gums will have their farts released after their consumption. Secondly, it has to do with our diet! For example, we might eat too much gas producing food like onion, ginger, garlic, bean products, root vegetables, Brassicaceae vegetables, sweetened food, milk, carbonated drinks, etc. During the digestive process, all these food will be decomposed and fermented by the gut flora found in the colon, and cause it to produce large quantity of hydrogen sulfide, carbon dioxide, ammonia, etc., and all these gases will cause you to fart non-stop….!   

Is it true that “Smelly farts are silent while loud farts are not smelly?” 

Indeed, it isn’t that way. The smell of our farts is determined by the smell released through the fermentation that takes places in our body by the gut bacteria, and it has very little to do with its sound. If we have bad bacteria found in our intestines, the gas released after the fermentation will be very smelly. At the same time, it will produce loud farts if there is a lot of gas in it! In contrast to this, when you have healthy intestines, and there are more good bacteria than bad bacteria found in them, your farts may be louder when you eat certain gas producing food but they won’t be too smelly.      

In conclusion, the frequency and smell of your farts have to do with your eating habits and health of your intestines. You need not be too worried if there are no sudden or special abnormalities, or changes found in your bowel movements. Lastly, you may take probiotics (especially Bifidobacterium) which helps to increase good bacteria in order to improve the odour released when we fart!