It's a Gas, Gas, Gas!*

In the 70s,’ it’s a gas’ meant cool. great, super. Once you reach your 70s, it’s a gas becomes literal: some of us feel like methane producing machines.

Studies estimate that we all pass gas from 13 – 21 times a day. (1) One study of gas-passing frequency in humans found that older adults don’t necessarily pass gas more than younger adults. (2) Maybe we just notice it more. The study says that people taking certain medications or people who have certain medical conditions may pass more gas, but even younger people take those meds and have those conditions.

But this gas-passing thing makes me curious, who passes gas? Some scientists blame cow methane for causing global warming but some scientists say cow methane accounts for only 2% to 10% of the total greenhouse gases. (3) Who’s producing the other 90%?

Is it us, or something else? Scientists are studying gas-passing in all sorts of different animals. A BBC Science Focus article mentions studies on rabbits and dinosaurs. (4) Scientists estimated dinosaur gas emissions by studying their body makeup and diet. They calculated that dinosaur gas kept the climate warm and moist in the Mesozoic era. The article laments “spider flatulence is an oddly understudied topic in scientific literature.” Oddly understudied? I can’t imagine why scientists would think spider flatulence needs to be studied. Maybe someone should study how scientists pick subjects to study. I’m not sure spider flatulence is a major concern of many of us. Most of us don’t get close enough to spiders to smell their gas emissions, if any. Bulldogs, yes. Spiders, no.

The article notes bird flatulence hasn’t been studied either, but I hope scientists are

studying why birds always seem to target car windshields and people. (See FarSide cartoon of a bird targeting a car windshield: “You Are Mine… All Mine.”

And I wonder how much gas the geckos living behind my porch light emit. They leave a lot of poop on the porch, but they eat bugs (whose exoskeletons also lie on my porch), so I don’t’ care if they emit gas. I do notice a gassy smell sometimes when I leave the apartment, but hubby thinks it’s our neighbor.

Geckos living behind our light - right is a close up of the arm.

Some foods can cause gas. People blame the three Bs: beans, broccoli, and brussels sprouts, yet for 10 years I ate a diet based on beans. They never bothered me. My body must have been used to them. As a frequent bean-eater here’s a tip: rinse the juice from canned or cooked beans to remove the sugars that cause gas.

I do have a somewhat odd gas-producing food – raw cherries. Just two delicious Bing cherries and in five minutes no one wants to be around me. I don’t even want to be around me! Researching this phenomenon, I learned a new term: fodmap. (5) Fodmaps are short chain carbohydrates, commonly found in fruits. I guess there is even a Fodmap diet. There must be a special diet for everything. But I don’t think it’s the fodmaps in cherries that cause my problems, since I don’t react to anything else on the fodmap chart. I just always by the giant economy sized Beano when I buy a bag of cherries. And avoid being near people.

Regardless of what causes the gas, we all pass gas, and it’s a frequent topic of comedians. Movies capitalize on fart humor. Popular scenes include The Blazing Saddles beans scene and the Caddyshack scene when a fart interrupts Rodney Dangerfield’s no respect routine. In Naked Gun the bumbling detective, played by Leslie Nielsen, passes gas frequently. Leslie Nielsen loved fart jokes so much he carried the fart machine used in the Airplane movies with him on guest appearances. His tombstone reads, “Let ‘er rip.” (6)

There is a double standard on passing gas. Clas-Göran af Björkesten, clinical instructor of internal medicine at the University of Helsinki, notes “Attitudes toward the male fart have been more permissive compared to the female fart.” (7) While men can get a laugh out of farting, women are frequently chastised for passing gas in public.

Some women go to great extents to avoid passing gas in public. A recent America’s Funniest Home Videos top three winner was a Ring doorbell recording of a woman stepping out to her front porch to pass gas – multiple times. At least she won $3,000 for her efforts to conceal her flatulence.

Other women haven’t been so lucky. A Brazilian woman, with 15.7 million followers on Instagram, was hospitalized with severe stomach pain for holding in gas because she wasn’t on ‘farting terms’ with her boyfriend. (8) She posted to her concerned fans “I’m now fine. Just an accumulation of trapped farts.” Another 19-year-old Dublin girl had to get her appendix removed before it burst, all as a result holding in her gas around her boyfriend. (9) The girl swears after her ordeal to “let it out from now”.

So maybe we should stop worrying about our gas and heed the wisdom of the 19-year-old Dublin girl or Leslie Neilson, “let ‘er rip!” In case you have trouble letting ‘er rip, I’ve included references on How to Make Yourself Fart.

References

* Rolling Stones, Jumpling Jack Flash, it’s a gas, gas gas. (In the 70s ‘it’s a ga’s meant cool, super, or great. Don’t believe internet articles that tell you they lyrics are about jumping to relieve gas. Song facts, who quote the song writers, Mick Jagger and Keith Richards say Jumping Jack was Richard’s gardener who noise woke Mick up in a flash.

1. Sheshe Giddens, Flatulence: Everything You Wanted to Know About Farting, Houston Methodist Leading Medicine, October 13, 2020

2. Danielle Braff, Why we pass more gas as we age and what we can do about it. AARP, June 24, 2020

3. K A Johnson, D E Johnson, Methane emissions from cattle, NIH, National Library of Medicine, Aug, 1995

4. Sarah Rigby, Why do I fart so much? The science you never knew you wanted to know about flatulence, BBC Science Focus, April 4, 2022

5. Hazel Galon Veloso, M.D.,The FODMAP Diet: What You Need to Know, Johns Hopkins Medicine, https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/wellness-and-prevention/fodmap-diet-what-you-need-to-know

6. Debby Emory, Leslie Nielsen keeps fans laughing from beyond the grave with 'let 'er rip' epitaph, Daily Mail.com, June 3, 2011

7. Clas-Göran af Björkesten, Why Are Farts Funny, University of Helsinki, September 22, 2020

8. Wren Graves, , Fart Attack: Brazilian Singer Hospitalized After Holding in Gas Around Boyfriend, Yahoo News, March 23, 2022

9. Irish Woman Hospitalised After Holding in Farts Around Boyfriend, Oxygen.ie

Extra Credit

1. Jon Johnson, How to Make Yourself Fart, MedicalNewsToday.com, January 19,2020 – yoga, sparkling beverages, chewing gum, dairy products, fatty foods, some artificial sweeteners.

2. Dixie Chicks (the Chicks), Let ‘er Rip, YouTube (not about gas, but a great song if you like country).