Causes, Remedies, Complications, and More

While most people experience flatulence, swallowing air or eating certain foods like broccoli may cause it to occur more frequently. Some health conditions like celiac disease may cause excessive gas.

Also known as farting, passing wind, or having gas, flatulence is a medical term for releasing gas from the digestive system through the anus. It happens when gas collects inside the digestive system and is a normal process.

Gas collects in the digestive tract when your body breaks down food. It can also happen when you swallow air while eating or drinking. Gas is usually made up of oxygen, nitrogen, hydrogen, carbon dioxide, and occasionally methane.

On average, people experience flatulence between 13 and 21 times a day, according to the National Institutes of Health. Some conditions like irritable bowel syndrome, celiac disease, and gastroparesis can cause excessive flatulence. You may also pass wind more frequently if you eat certain foods.

In some cases, gas can cause pain and bloating and affect your daily activities. Adjusting your diet, taking medications, and exercising may help reduce gas discomfort.

Gas collects in two main ways. Swallowing air (aerophagia) while you eat or drink can cause oxygen and nitrogen to collect in the digestive tract. Second, as your body breaks down food, gases like hydrogen, methane, and carbon dioxide collect in the digestive tract. Either method can cause flatulence.

Swallowing air

It’s natural to swallow air throughout the day, normally during eating and drinking. Typically, you’ll only swallow a small amount of air.

If you frequently swallow more air, you may find that you experience excessive flatulence. It may also cause burping.

Reasons that you may swallow more air than normal include:

• chewing gum
• smoking
• wearing loose dentures
• sucking on objects like pen tops
• drinking carbonated beverages
• eating or drinking too quickly

Dietary choices

The foods you eat could lead to excessive flatulence. Carbohydrates, for example, are known to cause gas.

Proteins and fats tend to cause less gas than carbohydrates. Some proteins can cause gas to have a stronger odor, though.

Some foods that increase gas include:

• beans
• cabbage
• broccoli
• Brussels sprouts
• whole grains
• asparagus
• milk
• dairy products
• onions
• pears
• artichokes
• wheat
• oat bran
• peas
• potatoes
• corn
• raisins
• lentils
• prunes
• apples
• foods high in fructose or sorbitol, like fruit juices and sugar-free candies
• processed foods

These foods can take a long time to digest, leading to the unpleasant smell associated with flatulence. Also, there are some foods the body can’t fully absorb. This means that they pass from the intestines to the colon without being completely digested first.

The colon contains a large amount of bacteria that then break down the food, releasing gases as they do so. The buildup of this gas causes flatulence.

Not all foods will cause gas in all people. Keeping track of the foods you eat and flatulence symptoms you experience can help narrow down which ones cause gas in your body.

Underlying conditions

If your diet doesn’t contain a large amount of carbohydrates or sugars, and you don’t swallow excessive air, your excessive flatulence may be caused by a medical condition.

The conditions that can cause flatulence range from temporary health issues to chronic digestive problems. Some of these conditions include:

• constipation
• gastroenteritis
• food intolerances, like lactose intolerance
• IBS
• Crohn’s disease
• celiac disease
• diabetes
• eating disorders
• ulcerative colitis
• dumping syndrome
• gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD)
• autoimmune pancreatitis
• peptic ulcers

You may be able to relieve excess gas and reduce flatulence through a mix of lifestyle changes and diet adjustments. Home remedies for flatulence include:

• Keeping a food diary. This will help you figure out which foods increase gas in your body. After you identify some foods that cause you excessive flatulence, you can try to eat less of them or avoid them altogether.
• Adjusting your diet. If your diet includes a large amount of carbohydrates that are difficult to digest, try to replace them. Carbohydrates that are easier to digest, such rice and bananas, are substitutes that may reduce flatulence.
• Eating smaller meals more frequently. Eating around five to six small meals a day instead of three larger ones may be easier on your digestive system.
• Trying to swallow less air. Avoid doing anything that may increase the amount of air that you swallow. This includes making sure that you’re chewing your food properly, and avoiding chewing gum, smoking, and straws.
• Drinking lots of water. Staying hydrated can help you avoid constipation, which causes gas.
• Exercising regularly. Some people find that exercising helps to promote digestion and can prevent flatulence.
• Taking probiotics. Probiotics, like Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium, may promote regular digestion, which can help reduce gas. These can be found in over-the-counter (OTC) supplements and fermented foods, like sauerkraut and yogurt.
• Using charcoal pads. Lining your underwear with a “fart pad” made of charcoal could help reduce odor in some cases of excessive flatulence.
• Changing your posture. Sitting in an upright position can help your body release excess gas.
• Using a heating pad. Placing a heating pad or hot water bottle on your belly can help reduce pain and cramping from excess gas.
• Consuming ginger. Ginger is known to promote digestion. Improving your digestion may help relieve flatulence and bloating.

Medications can also be used to treat flatulence, depending on the cause of the problem. Treatment options include:

• OTC medications: Drugstores offer a variety of medications, like bismuth subsalicylate (Pepto-Bismol) and simethicone (Gas-X, Phazyme), that can help relieve flatulence.
• Prescription drugs: Certain prescription medications can target underlying conditions, like IBS or small intestinal bacterial overgrowth, that cause gas. Treating the condition may, in turn, reduce flatulence.
• Supplements: If you’re lactose intolerant, taking lactase (available OTC) may help relieve gas when you consume dairy products. Another supplement, alpha-galactosidase (Beano), can help the body break down legumes and vegetables in order to reduce gas.

Before adding any medications or supplements to your diet, consider checking in with a healthcare professional to make sure they’re safe for you.

If you’re concerned about flatulence, connect with a healthcare professional. They’ll ask about:

• your symptoms
• your diet
• your eating and drinking habits (like meal sizes and how quickly you eat)
• medications and supplements you take
• your medical history

They may also conduct a physical exam to check for swelling, tenderness, or sounds in your abdomen. This may include a physical exam of your rectum.

A healthcare professional may order additional medical tests, including X-rays, blood tests, and stool tests, to see if a potential health problem is behind your flatulence.

You may need to keep a food diary and adjust your eating habits as you work to find the cause of your excess gas.

Severe and persistent flatulence can make an impact on your physical well-being. It may cause pain, cramping, bloating, and other uncomfortable symptoms.

Excess gas can also create complications for your mental health. You may find it stressful or embarrassing to deal with frequent flatulence, especially in social situations.

Relieving gas with home remedies, medications, or both can help reduce the likelihood of complications, though. Try different strategies to see which ones work best for you, and consider talking with a healthcare professional if flatulence is causing complications in your life.

If you have unexplained flatulence, or if you experience the following symptoms along with flatulence, you should see your doctor:

• swollen abdomen
• abdominal pain
• gas that’s persistent and severe
• vomiting
• diarrhea
• constipation
• unintentional weight loss
• heartburn
• blood in stool

These symptoms may be a sign of a serious underlying condition.

Causes, Remedies, Complications, and More

While most people experience flatulence, swallowing air or eating certain foods like broccoli may cause it to occur more frequently. Some health conditions like celiac disease may cause excessive gas.

Also known as farting, passing wind, or having gas, flatulence is a medical term for releasing gas from the digestive system through the anus. It happens when gas collects inside the digestive system and is a normal process.

Gas collects in the digestive tract when your body breaks down food. It can also happen when you swallow air while eating or drinking. Gas is usually made up of oxygen, nitrogen, hydrogen, carbon dioxide, and occasionally methane.

On average, people experience flatulence between 13 and 21 times a day, according to the National Institutes of Health. Some conditions like irritable bowel syndrome, celiac disease, and gastroparesis can cause excessive flatulence. You may also pass wind more frequently if you eat certain foods.

In some cases, gas can cause pain and bloating and affect your daily activities. Adjusting your diet, taking medications, and exercising may help reduce gas discomfort.

Gas collects in two main ways. Swallowing air (aerophagia) while you eat or drink can cause oxygen and nitrogen to collect in the digestive tract. Second, as your body breaks down food, gases like hydrogen, methane, and carbon dioxide collect in the digestive tract. Either method can cause flatulence.

Swallowing air

It’s natural to swallow air throughout the day, normally during eating and drinking. Typically, you’ll only swallow a small amount of air.

If you frequently swallow more air, you may find that you experience excessive flatulence. It may also cause burping.

Reasons that you may swallow more air than normal include:

• chewing gum
• smoking
• wearing loose dentures
• sucking on objects like pen tops
• drinking carbonated beverages
• eating or drinking too quickly

Dietary choices

The foods you eat could lead to excessive flatulence. Carbohydrates, for example, are known to cause gas.

Proteins and fats tend to cause less gas than carbohydrates. Some proteins can cause gas to have a stronger odor, though.

Some foods that increase gas include:

• beans
• cabbage
• broccoli
• Brussels sprouts
• whole grains
• asparagus
• milk
• dairy products
• onions
• pears
• artichokes
• wheat
• oat bran
• peas
• potatoes
• corn
• raisins
• lentils
• prunes
• apples
• foods high in fructose or sorbitol, like fruit juices and sugar-free candies
• processed foods

These foods can take a long time to digest, leading to the unpleasant smell associated with flatulence. Also, there are some foods the body can’t fully absorb. This means that they pass from the intestines to the colon without being completely digested first.

The colon contains a large amount of bacteria that then break down the food, releasing gases as they do so. The buildup of this gas causes flatulence.

Not all foods will cause gas in all people. Keeping track of the foods you eat and flatulence symptoms you experience can help narrow down which ones cause gas in your body.

Underlying conditions

If your diet doesn’t contain a large amount of carbohydrates or sugars, and you don’t swallow excessive air, your excessive flatulence may be caused by a medical condition.

The conditions that can cause flatulence range from temporary health issues to chronic digestive problems. Some of these conditions include:

• constipation
• gastroenteritis
• food intolerances, like lactose intolerance
• IBS
• Crohn’s disease
• celiac disease
• diabetes
• eating disorders
• ulcerative colitis
• dumping syndrome
• gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD)
• autoimmune pancreatitis
• peptic ulcers

You may be able to relieve excess gas and reduce flatulence through a mix of lifestyle changes and diet adjustments. Home remedies for flatulence include:

• Keeping a food diary. This will help you figure out which foods increase gas in your body. After you identify some foods that cause you excessive flatulence, you can try to eat less of them or avoid them altogether.
• Adjusting your diet. If your diet includes a large amount of carbohydrates that are difficult to digest, try to replace them. Carbohydrates that are easier to digest, such rice and bananas, are substitutes that may reduce flatulence.
• Eating smaller meals more frequently. Eating around five to six small meals a day instead of three larger ones may be easier on your digestive system.
• Trying to swallow less air. Avoid doing anything that may increase the amount of air that you swallow. This includes making sure that you’re chewing your food properly, and avoiding chewing gum, smoking, and straws.
• Drinking lots of water. Staying hydrated can help you avoid constipation, which causes gas.
• Exercising regularly. Some people find that exercising helps to promote digestion and can prevent flatulence.
• Taking probiotics. Probiotics, like Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium, may promote regular digestion, which can help reduce gas. These can be found in over-the-counter (OTC) supplements and fermented foods, like sauerkraut and yogurt.
• Using charcoal pads. Lining your underwear with a “fart pad” made of charcoal could help reduce odor in some cases of excessive flatulence.
• Changing your posture. Sitting in an upright position can help your body release excess gas.
• Using a heating pad. Placing a heating pad or hot water bottle on your belly can help reduce pain and cramping from excess gas.
• Consuming ginger. Ginger is known to promote digestion. Improving your digestion may help relieve flatulence and bloating.

Medications can also be used to treat flatulence, depending on the cause of the problem. Treatment options include:

• OTC medications: Drugstores offer a variety of medications, like bismuth subsalicylate (Pepto-Bismol) and simethicone (Gas-X, Phazyme), that can help relieve flatulence.
• Prescription drugs: Certain prescription medications can target underlying conditions, like IBS or small intestinal bacterial overgrowth, that cause gas. Treating the condition may, in turn, reduce flatulence.
• Supplements: If you’re lactose intolerant, taking lactase (available OTC) may help relieve gas when you consume dairy products. Another supplement, alpha-galactosidase (Beano), can help the body break down legumes and vegetables in order to reduce gas.

Before adding any medications or supplements to your diet, consider checking in with a healthcare professional to make sure they’re safe for you.

If you’re concerned about flatulence, connect with a healthcare professional. They’ll ask about:

• your symptoms
• your diet
• your eating and drinking habits (like meal sizes and how quickly you eat)
• medications and supplements you take
• your medical history

They may also conduct a physical exam to check for swelling, tenderness, or sounds in your abdomen. This may include a physical exam of your rectum.

A healthcare professional may order additional medical tests, including X-rays, blood tests, and stool tests, to see if a potential health problem is behind your flatulence.

You may need to keep a food diary and adjust your eating habits as you work to find the cause of your excess gas.

Severe and persistent flatulence can make an impact on your physical well-being. It may cause pain, cramping, bloating, and other uncomfortable symptoms.

Excess gas can also create complications for your mental health. You may find it stressful or embarrassing to deal with frequent flatulence, especially in social situations.

Relieving gas with home remedies, medications, or both can help reduce the likelihood of complications, though. Try different strategies to see which ones work best for you, and consider talking with a healthcare professional if flatulence is causing complications in your life.

If you have unexplained flatulence, or if you experience the following symptoms along with flatulence, you should see your doctor:

• swollen abdomen
• abdominal pain
• gas that’s persistent and severe
• vomiting
• diarrhea
• constipation
• unintentional weight loss
• heartburn
• blood in stool

These symptoms may be a sign of a serious underlying condition.

Flatulence – articles about health

Flatulence – increased accumulation of gases in the gastrointestinal tract. Flatulence can be felt in practically healthy individuals when overeating, eating foods, the digestion of which causes increased gas formation.

Causes

Causes of flatulence in the intestines are extremely diverse. Flatulence can occur in a child already in the first days after birth as a result of imperfection of the enzyme system or a violation of its function. The lack of enzymes leads to the ingress of a large amount of undigested food debris into the lower parts of the digestive tract and the activation of the processes of decay and fermentation with the release of gases.

Violations of the enzyme system can occur with an unbalanced diet, as well as with various diseases of the upper digestive tract. Another cause of increased gas formation in the intestines is a violation of the microflora of the colon. Flatulence can also occur due to previous abdominal operations.

In people older than 65-70 years, flatulence most often occurs against the background of the process of atrophy of the muscular layer of the intestine. Also, the causes of flatulence in old age can be: lengthening of the intestine, deterioration in the functioning of the glands that produce digestive enzymes.

Women sometimes experience flatulence during childbearing. This is usually due to the pressure that the uterus puts on the intestines and hormonal changes in the body.

Under normal conditions, most of the gases are absorbed by the bacteria that live in the intestine. When the balance is disturbed, flatulence occurs.

Sometimes flatulence is provoked by nervous situations that “awaken” stress hormones.

Symptoms

Flatulence is manifested by bloating or attacks of cramping pain, may be accompanied by nausea, belching, loss of appetite, constipation or diarrhea, sleep problems, headache and general weakness.

Bloating with flatulence is one of the most striking manifestations of an increase in the amount of gases in the intestines. It is impossible not to notice it, since swelling is accompanied by pain and a feeling of pronounced discomfort. The abdomen increases in size due to the overflow of the intestines with gases. At the same time, their discharge does not occur, since the large intestine is spasmodic.

Diagnosis and treatment

Flatulence is treated by a gastroenterologist.

In the presence of flatulence, the gastroenterologist prescribes various methods of examination to determine the cause of the discomfort.

If it is established that flatulence is the result of an irrational approach to nutrition, then the existing errors should be eliminated. It is important to eat regularly. Doctors recommend including fermented milk products in the diet. If their intake is regular, the metabolic activity of the microflora will normalize, the motor function of the intestine will be restored.

The principle of treating flatulence is to eliminate the cause of increased gas formation. For this, a diet is prescribed, as well as drugs for the treatment of diseases that caused flatulence.

In the treatment of flatulence, absorbent agents are used, for example, activated charcoal (effective only in large doses), white clay, polyphepan, dimethicone, polysorb. They reduce the absorption of gases, toxins and other compounds, and also contribute to their removal.

It is also advisable to take pancreatic enzymes, since flatulence almost always occurs against the background of indigestion.

Flatulence and bloating in adults, causes

An excessive amount of gases that accumulate in the intestines and lead to bloating and discomfort inside it is flatulence. This brings the patient discomfort not only physical, but also moral. Most often, this unpleasant phenomenon is provoked by the presence of pathology in the small intestine of the patient, which is accompanied by an inflammatory process. Therefore, if gas formation, as well as hiccups or belching, periodically annoy you or someone close to you, then you need to contact a gastroenterologist who will prescribe the examination necessary for making a diagnosis.

What is the direct cause of flatulence? The formation of a large volume of gases in the intestinal lumen is associated primarily with the vital activity of the bacteria inhabiting it and necessary for processing the food entering the body. The very fact of the appearance of gases in the intestines is the norm; pathology is only an excessive number of them. The presence of about a liter of gases inside the intestines and stomach is normal. If this number triples or even more, then flatulence treatment is necessary.

Causes of flatulence

Fortunately, this unpleasant phenomenon is not always provoked by the presence of any serious health problems in the patient. Here are the most common factors that provoke excessive gas formation:

• the habit of eating “in a hurry”, not chewing food thoroughly enough and swallowing air along with its particles;
• eating certain fruits and vegetables, such as legumes, grapes, apples and cabbage, as well as the presence in the human diet of fresh black bread, kvass, raspberries and beer;
• poor compatibility of products in the diet – for example, you should not drink smoked fish with milk;
• banal overeating;
• intolerance to lactose, gluten or any other food ingredients;
• use of certain pharmaceuticals;
• frequent use of carbonated drinks, as well as a large amount of “milk” in the diet;
• imbalance of “useful” and pathogenic microflora in the patient’s intestines;
• some dental problems associated with anomalies in the shape of the teeth can cause flatulence and swelling;
• the patient has neoplasms on the walls of the intestine – benign or cancerous tumors;
• constipation, intestinal atony, etc.

As for individual diagnoses, among the symptoms of which there is excessive gas separation, these include:

• neuroses;
• various diseases of the digestive tract, which are accompanied by inflammation;
• intestinal parasites;
• obstruction of the intestinal lumen;
• various infectious diseases affecting the intestines.

In addition, bloating and flatulence in adults and children can be observed in patients due to surgical interventions on the stomach and intestines. Finally, in younger patients, the causes of flatulence may be an unbalanced diet and reduced immunity, underdevelopment of the gastrointestinal tract and overeating, as well as being in stressful conditions. As for women in an interesting position, their excessive gas formation is provoked primarily by the pressure of the uterus on the intestinal loops, as well as the increased production of progesterone by the body and the presence of dysbacteriosis, which is more than common in pregnant women.

Symptoms of bloating and flatulence in adults and children

This pathology is manifested by the appearance of tangible pains of a bursting nature, localized in the abdomen. They suddenly appear and can just as suddenly pass. Relief brings copious discharge of flatus. Sometimes flatulence is accompanied by acute pain in the stomach.

In addition, patients suffering from flatulence and bloating may experience symptoms characteristic of various gastrointestinal diseases, such as unstable stools, loss of appetite, and nausea. In some cases, it is possible to join the above symptoms of insomnia and migraine.

Flatulence treatment

As for getting rid of the symptoms of increased gas formation, they can be eliminated quite easily – especially in cases where their appearance is not associated with the presence of any disease. To do this, it is enough to normalize your diet and take a medicine – a kind of adsorbent or defoamer. In addition, folk remedies such as dill infusion or fennel decoction can be very effective for normalizing peristalsis.