Everybody toots. This is a fact. The average number of times a person passes wind in a day is 13.6.
One young man that Levitt treated passed wind up to 90 times a day — releasing an average of 5,520 millilitres of gas per day, or 62 millilitres per event. He turned out to be lactose intolerant; when that was fixed, his excessive flatulence stopped. What causes flatulence? Microorganisms that live for the most part in the colon consume and help to break down undigested food, in turn generating their own waste products. More waste usually means more gas — and it can be pretty smelly.“It is a normal biological process that happens to everyone. When we eat and drink we also swallow small amounts of air. The food is then digested, and gasses including carbon dioxide, methane and hydrogen build up within the intestines.
Schoenteich points to recent research in animals that suggests that hydrogen sulphide — one of the major components of smelly gas, the one that gives it that “rotten egg” smell — might provide some health benefits in humans. The study was based on the idea that mitochondria, the part of cells that help produce energy, could benefit from this gas.
The noise, Schoenteich says, is linked to vibrations of the rectum which occur when gas is released from the body. “The volume of gas released and the tightness of the sphincter muscles each play a part in the sound effects. You can manipulate the sound by relaxing or tightening the anal sphincter and diaphragm to change pitch, volume and duration of sounds .