Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff from How Stuff Works. Hey, brain stuff,
Speaker 1: it's Christian Seger. So in the late eighteen hundreds there
Speaker 1: was this French guy and his name was Le Peto Man,
Speaker 1: and he was one of the stars of Mulan Rouge.
Speaker 1: People would come from far and wide just to watch
Speaker 1: this guy fart, Yeah, to watch him fart. Lepetomon, you see,
Speaker 1: was a professional flat glist, which, as it turns out,
Speaker 1: is still sort of a thing, and certainly it's a
Speaker 1: dream job for some. But if you want to move
Speaker 1: out of the ranks of amateur windbreakers and into those stinking,
Speaker 1: hallowed halls of the professionally flatulent, you will need to
Speaker 1: know a thing or two about farts, like what are they,
Speaker 1: why do they happen, and why did they smell so bad? Well,
Speaker 1: first things first, everyone farts, every single person. Yes, you
Speaker 1: two listening to this, you do too. To not fart
Speaker 1: would be medically fascinating and probably dangerous. On average, most
Speaker 1: people are passing about one leader of gas a day,
Speaker 1: spread out over thirteen to wait for it, twenty one incidents.
Speaker 1: That's twenty one separate times in one day. The composition
Speaker 1: of a fart varies widely, but Usually what we're smelling
Speaker 1: is something that's mostly nitrogen, along with oxygen, carbon dioxide,
Speaker 1: and even methane. This gas itself comes from several sources,
Speaker 1: the air you swallow, gas that enters your intestines, from
Speaker 1: your bloodstream, and so on. But about seventy five of
Speaker 1: your farts are created in your lower intestine, and unfortunately
Speaker 1: not by you. See the bacteria living inside you right now.
Speaker 1: They comprise a microbiome all of their own. And when
Speaker 1: we say it's intricate, we mean it's so intricate that
Speaker 1: David Attenborough could make a documentary about it. These bacteria
Speaker 1: form this thriving empire with billions of tiny separate organisms
Speaker 1: live thing inside their host, and that's you. They're living
Speaker 1: with you in symbiosis. Now, flatulence occurs when food passes
Speaker 1: through your stomach and small intestine without fully breaking down.
Speaker 1: So what does this mean. This means that the food
Speaker 1: hits the large intestine in an undigested state. So, for example,
Speaker 1: let's look at lactose, which is present in dairy products
Speaker 1: like milk and cheese. If you're lactose intolerant, then you
Speaker 1: lack the enzyme that breaks lactose into sugar. Molecules for
Speaker 1: the bloodstream. Without this, lactose just breezes through your stomach
Speaker 1: and small intestine into your large intestine, where it becomes
Speaker 1: the special of the day for billions of hungary bacteria.
Speaker 1: Those guys love lactose, and if you're not going to
Speaker 1: digest it, they will. As they digest this lactose, they
Speaker 1: emit a number of gases, including methane, hydrogen, carbon dioxide,
Speaker 1: and hydrogen sulfide, which is responsible for the unpleasant aroma.
Speaker 1: This process is similar to how yeast produces carbon dioxide
Speaker 1: to leaven bread. And speaking of food, it's true that
Speaker 1: some foods do produce more flatulence, primarily because they contain
Speaker 1: more indigestible carbohydrates. I'm looking at you. Beans, nutrient dense vegetables,
Speaker 1: and fiber rich foods all have a reputation for enabling flatulence.
Speaker 1: That's not necessarily a bad thing. See. As scientists learn
Speaker 1: more about the relationship between diet, health and a person's microbiome,
Speaker 1: they're discovering that these flatulent foods may encourage the growth
Speaker 1: of beneficial bacteria in your gut. When they're producing that
Speaker 1: next embarrassing puff of gas, they're also making molecules to
Speaker 1: protect your intestinal lining and prevent infections. So remember the
Speaker 1: next time you're silent crime accidentally ends up sounding like
Speaker 1: a stuttering trumpet. Your intestinal bacteria are the real culprits.
Speaker 1: They are the ones act truly farting. And look, I
Speaker 1: want to emphasize this. They are farting inside of you
Speaker 1: and then you fart their farts out. Are we clear
Speaker 1: on that part, which leads us to the bigger question
Speaker 1: of the day, who are we farting inside of? Check
Speaker 1: out the brainstuff channel on YouTube, and for more on
Speaker 1: this and thousands of other topics, visit how stuff works
Speaker 1: dot com.