Excellent news for people who constantly fart — it means you’re almost, like, invincible.
Air in the intestines happens after eating nutrient-packed vegetables like cabbage, kale and broccoli and fiber-rich foods, like beans and lentils. These foods boost the levels of beneficial bacteria in the belly after only a few days. So, a ton of farts should mean everything is working correctly. Right?
“Eating foods that cause gas is the only way for the microbes in the gut to get nutrients,” explains Purna Kashyup, a gastroenterologist at the Mayo Clinic in an interview with NPR. “If we didn’t feed them carbohydrates, it would be harder for them to live in our gut.”
So just how many times should the average human blow his butt trumpet in a day?
“A healthy individual can have up to 18 flatulences per day and be perfectly normal,” Kashyup explains.
Eighteen? I’m up eighteen before I even hit the shower in the morning.
Just as I thought — I’m going to live forever. Alone, but, forever.
Got Gas? It Could Mean You’ve Got Healthy Gut Microbes [NPR]