Photo: flickr/purpleslog
Do you suffer from excessive “anal gas evacuation” (scientific jargon that just means ‘farting’)? If so, your gut bacteria might be contributing. The authors of this study looked at the differences between patients complaining of flatulence compared to healthy controls. They measured both the number and volume of “gas evacuation” episodes (see below for more details, if you’re into that kind of thing) from the subjects on both standard and “flatogenic” (fart-producing) diets. One big difference between the two groups was that the species of bacteria in flatulent patients changed much more when the patients ate the flatogenic diet, whereas the bacterial communities in the controls remained stable. In fact, specific bacteria were correlated with increased numbers of gas evacuations and increased gas volumes in those patients. So there you have it: apparently, not all farts are created equal.Anal gas evacuation and colonic microbiota in patients with flatulence: ...
