Flatulence
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- ValleyForge
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Flatulence
Postby ValleyForge » Thu Jul 16, 2015 6:18 pm
Just to let you know there is a real biological explanation here. We obviously make a fair bit of intestinal gas, and swallow quite a lot too. The nitrogen comes out unchanged, but the rest is mostly from bacterial fermentation in our large intestine. We have over a kilogram of bacteria in our gut.
Now you can easily turn yourself into a fermentation tank by adding a lot of sugars into your large intestine. In a perfect world, only a small amount of these sugars make it into the large intestine - most of the sugars being broken down by enzymes in the small intestine then absorbed there. Unfortunately that doesn't happen for all of us. A number of people (especially Asians) lack or loose the ability to cleve lactose and so are "lactose-intolerant". But more commonly, Caucasians gradually loose the ability to break down a different sugar bond - fructose - which creates a similar problem.
Fructose (and fructans and some oligosaccharides and the polyols) create fermentation havoc. Apart from the polyols, the sugars are present in a lot of really healthy foods - fruits and vegetables - especially. The polyols are used as zero calorie sweeteners in your protein shake or low carb bar. Or soft drink.
I could rabbit on for ages here, but I'll point you to the guru Sue Shepperd's resources on FODMAPs. There are loads of diets out there, but it's her discovery
http://shepherdworks.com.au/disease-inf ... odmap-diet
Happy farting. Oh and Jerusalem artichokes are the worst of all.
- Thoglette
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Re: Flatulence
Postby Thoglette » Thu Jul 16, 2015 6:50 pm
"People are worthy of respect, ideas are not." Peter Ellerton, UQ
- gorilla monsoon
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Re: Flatulence
Postby gorilla monsoon » Tue Jul 21, 2015 5:08 pm
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Re: Flatulence
Postby macca33 » Tue Jul 21, 2015 7:38 pm
- Cheesewheel
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Re: Flatulence
Postby Cheesewheel » Tue Jul 21, 2015 9:33 pm
there's a joke like thatgorilla monsoon wrote:I don't need to rationalise farts, just enjoy them.
Why do farts smell?
So deaf people can enjoy them too.
- matagi
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Re: Flatulence
Postby matagi » Wed Jul 22, 2015 7:34 am
Except the worst ones are invariably silent.Cheesewheel wrote:there's a joke like thatgorilla monsoon wrote:I don't need to rationalise farts, just enjoy them.
Why do farts smell?
So deaf people can enjoy them too.
- gorilla monsoon
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Re: Flatulence
Postby gorilla monsoon » Wed Jul 22, 2015 12:38 pm
- vince
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Re: Flatulence
Postby vince » Sun Jul 26, 2015 6:42 pm
It smells funny!
"Man plans, God laughs"
- trailgumby
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Re: Flatulence
Postby trailgumby » Sun Jul 26, 2015 9:16 pm
I LOl'dCheesewheel wrote:there's a joke like thatgorilla monsoon wrote:I don't need to rationalise farts, just enjoy them.
Why do farts smell?
So deaf people can enjoy them too.
- AUbicycles
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Re: Flatulence
Postby AUbicycles » Sun Jul 26, 2015 9:43 pm
- Marx
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Re: Flatulence
Postby Marx » Sun Jul 26, 2015 11:30 pm
A bike and a place to ride.
- ColinOldnCranky
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Re: Flatulence
Postby ColinOldnCranky » Mon Jul 27, 2015 12:40 am
I'm with you gorilla.gorilla monsoon wrote:I don't need to rationalise farts, just enjoy them.
- kb
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Re: Flatulence
Postby kb » Mon Jul 27, 2015 12:09 pm
- gorilla monsoon
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Re: Flatulence
Postby gorilla monsoon » Mon Jul 27, 2015 12:28 pm
- Semar
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Re: Flatulence
Postby Semar » Sat Aug 01, 2015 3:21 pm
Try them.
- ZepinAtor
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Re: Flatulence
Postby ZepinAtor » Sat Aug 01, 2015 5:36 pm
- Lizzy
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Re: Flatulence
Postby Lizzy » Sat Aug 08, 2015 7:37 pm
- gorilla monsoon
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Re: Flatulence
Postby gorilla monsoon » Mon Aug 10, 2015 12:20 pm
- ValleyForge
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Re: Flatulence
Postby ValleyForge » Wed Aug 12, 2015 11:10 am
And therein lies the problem.gorilla monsoon wrote:Sorry Lizzie, forgot that ladies don't fart. Ever.
I actually meant this post to be taken seriously!
- clackers
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Re: Flatulence
Postby clackers » Wed Aug 12, 2015 11:54 am
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Re: Flatulence
Postby Zippy7 » Thu Oct 08, 2015 10:37 pm
What is the safe/unsafe distance from a flatulent rider?
If the rider ahead farts, do you cop/smell it if you are more than 1m away? 2m away? 5m away?
Is there a close (safe) zone where you are too close and the smell has not yet dispersed into nose range?
Is 10m away safe because it has fully dispersed?
Of course, if it is very windy, that could change things. But let's start with the zero/low wind scenario first (even a sheltered area)
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Re: Flatulence
Postby CKinnard » Thu Oct 08, 2015 11:07 pm
"Flatulence come from two places: swallowed air, and fermentation in the bowel. Things that can cause you to swallow extra air include gum chewing, ill-fitting dentures, sucking on hard candies, drinking through a straw, eating too fast, talking while you eat, and cigarette smoking. So if the fear of lung cancer doesn’t get you to quit smoking, maybe fear of flatulence will.
The main source of gas, though, is the normal bacterial fermentation in our colon of undigested sugars. Dairy products are a leading cause of excessive flatulence, due to poor digestion of the milk sugar lactose, though even people who are lactose tolerant may suffer from dairy. One of the most flatulent patients ever reported in the medical literature was effectively cured once dairy products were removed from his diet. The case, reported in the New England Journal of Medicine and submitted to the Guinness Book of World Records, involved a guy who, after consuming dairy, experienced “70 passages in one four-hour period.” Cutting the cheese, indeed.
Other poorly digested sugars include sorbitol and xylitol in sugar-free candies. The fizziness in soda is carbon dioxide, which gets absorbed by our gut, but the high fructose in the soda’s corn syrup may be another culprit. Cruciferous vegetables may also contribute (kale-force winds?). Some grains can do it—the word pumpernickel stems from Middle German and means, roughly, “goblin that breaks wind.”
Beans have been christened the musical fruit, but could it just be a lot of hot air? A randomized controlled crossover study published last week, “Perceptions of flatulence from bean consumption among adults in 3 feeding studies,” concluded “People’s concerns about excessive flatulence from eating beans may be exaggerated.”
Noting that “An increasing body of research and the 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans supports the benefits of a plant-based diet, and legumes specifically, in the reduction of chronic disease risks,” they started people on pinto beans, black-eyed peas, or vegetarian baked (navy) beans. During the first week, 35% reported increased flatulence but that fell to 15% by week three, 5% by week five, and 3% by week eight. Much of the bad rap for beans grew out of short-term studies in the 60’s that didn’t account for our body’s ability to adapt.
Long-term, most people bulking up on high-fiber foods do not appear to have significantly increased problems with gas. In the beginning, though, “A little bit of extra flatulence,” reads the Harvard Health Letter, “could be an indication that you’re eating the way you should!” The buoyancy of floating stools from trapped gasses can in fact be seen as a sign of adequate fiber intake. The indigestible sugars in beans that make it down to our colon may even function as prebiotics to feed our good bacteria and make for a healthier colon.
Even if at first they make us gassy, beans are so health-promoting that we should experiment with ways to keep them in our diet at all costs. Lentils, split peas and canned beans tend to be less gas-producing. Tofu usually isn’t an offender. Repeated soakings of dried beans and tossing the cooking water may help if you boil your own. Worse comes to worst, there are cheap supplements that contain alpha-galactosidase, an enzyme shown to break up the bean sugars and take the sail out of your wind.
Odor is a separate issue. The smell appears to come primarily from the digestion of sulfur-rich foods, so to cut down on the stench, experts have recommended cutting back on foods such as meat and eggs (hydrogen sulfide is called “rotten egg gas” for a reason). In “Contribution of Dietary Protein to Sulfide Production in the Large Intestine” researchers found that meat-eaters generated as much as 15 times the sulfides as those eating vegetarian.
There are healthy sulfur-rich foods, such as garlic and cauliflower. If you’re about to embark on a long trip in a confined space after a big meal of aloo gobi, Pepto-Bismol® and generic equivalents can act as a windbreaker by binding up the sulfur in your gut to eliminate odors, but should be used only as a short term solution due to the potential for bismuth toxicity with chronic use.
Then there are the high tech solutions, such as carbon fiber odor-eating underwear (cost: $65), which were put to the test in an American Journal of Gastroenterology study that included such gems as “Utilising gas-tight Mylar pantaloons, the ability of a charcoal lined cushion to adsorb sulphur-containing gases instilled at the anus of eight subjects was assessed.” Assessed, that is, by a panel of fart-sniffing judges. And the name of the charcoal lined cushion? The “Toot Trapper.”
To reiterate, though, intestinal gas is normal and healthy. No less than Hippocrates himself was quoted as saying “passing gas is necessary to well-being.” As one chair of gastroenterology wrote in a review of degassing drugs and devices (and yes, Dr. Fardy is a real name), “Perhaps increased tolerance of flatus would be a better solution, for we tamper with harmless natural phenomena at our peril.”
– Michael Greger, M.D."
- CXCommuter
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Re: Flatulence
Postby CXCommuter » Fri Oct 09, 2015 9:08 am
Kimchi can also cause degassing episodes, and I am eating Korean BBQ tonight and a group ride tomorrow morning!!
- ValleyForge
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Re: Flatulence
Postby ValleyForge » Fri Oct 09, 2015 10:25 am
I chose to refer to recent Australian sources which are well ahead of the US. Indeed we fart well above our weight in this realm.CKinnard wrote:http://nutritionfacts.org/2011/12/05/be ... g-the-air/"
A point to emphasize is the fermentation is a slower process than many recognize. A delay of 24-36hrs is quite normal following the foodstuffs. So curry on Friday = Sunday unsociable ride.
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Re: Flatulence
Postby CKinnard » Fri Oct 09, 2015 2:19 pm
Well no, not quite. Many studies including the latest show many dietary approaches reduce IBS symptoms as well as, if not better than FODMAPs.ValleyForge wrote:I chose to refer to recent Australian sources which are well ahead of the US. Indeed we fart well above our weight in this realm.CKinnard wrote:http://nutritionfacts.org/2011/12/05/be ... g-the-air/"
How well various diets work can be dependent on how cr#p one's diet was before, and how out of healthy balance one's microbiome was.
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