Stinky Farts, Stinkier Customs

By Cindy Meng

Room full of people, intestines full of gas, gluteal desperately trying to manipulate the passage of the next fart to ensure it will be a silent one. We’ve all been in this situation at one point, maybe even several times a day; no one wants to endure the public humiliation associated with passing gas in public. But we shouldn’t be ashamed of our farts and burps, simply because they are part of the natural human digestive process and the release of this gas is crucial to all living things’ survival.

If you are anything like an average human being, you produce around 705 mL of fart and 300 mL of burp per day. According to Johns Hopkins University, humans pass gas about 14 times a day; this translates to 14 seconds-long tortures each day as we forcefully contain our gas in public to follow the social customs adopted by Americans and the majority of people from all cultures across the globe.

But, what is the point behind this stupid custom? People don’t understand that holding back gas can lead to bloating, abdominal cramping, and other forms of discomforts. According to Dr. Ben Kim from the University of Toronto, suppressing the release of gas “can lead to endogenous toxins seeping through the walls of your small intestine, entering your bloodstream, and ultimately, contributing to toxic load on all of your cells.” Such harm to your body is obviously much more serious than maintaining society’s definition of “proper etiquette,” so think twice before torturing yourself to suppress farts and burps.