Can farts be made less smelly?

Farting, also known as flatulence, is the act of passing intestinal gas from the anus. A fart is a combination of gases (nitrogen, carbon dioxide, oxygen, methane, and hydrogen sulfide). The word fart is just one of many different terms used to describe the release of gasses from the human body. Other popular names for farts or farting include: gassers, stinkers, air biscuits, bombers, barking spiders, rotten eggs, and wet ones.

A fart smells the same to the person who delivered it and to the person smelling it. However, the farter probably smells it last because the fart is propelled away from the body in the opposite direction of the farter’s nose.

On average, a person produces about half a liter of fart gas per day, distributed over an average of about fourteen daily farts. Whereas it may be difficult for you to determine your daily flatus volume, you can certainly keep track of your daily numerical fart count.

Some foods make your gas more potent. As  bacteria in the colon ferment indigestible bits of food, smelly gas results. Sulfur rich foods such as cabbage, cauliflower and beans and the sugar substitute sorbitol (found in gum), produce a particularly pungent odor. People who swallow a lot of air fart more than people who don’t. This can be cured somewhat by chewing with your mouth closed. Nervous people with fast moving bowels will fart more because less air is absorbed out of the intestines.

Drinking a half cup of cranberry juice a day can help cut the smell; it contain phytochemicals that suppress the odor causing bacteria. Other foods with deodorizing ingredients include yoghurt, parsley and mint leaves.

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