Flatulence control methods and techniques

Commonly known as farting, or passing gas, medically flatulence is a phenomenon where gas collected in the digestive tract is expelled through the rectum. In various cultures around the world flatulence is seen as an objectionable act in public. People have suggested colon hydrotherapy and other colon cleansing techniques to clean the digestive tract and hence reduce flatulence; however the effectiveness of any of the techniques is a matter of debate.
The first thing to understand about flatulence is how a flatus (fart) develops and is expelled. With the digestion of food particles in the body gases like nitrogen, carbon dioxide and methane are also produced as a by-product. Once the pressure of the gases increases it usually results in an involuntary or voluntary relaxing of the anal sphincter and the gases are expelled from the body via the rectum. Flatulence is a normal body process and apart from a disagreeable odour there are no other ill effects of passing flatus.
Chemically a flatus is composed of a variety of gases; the primary constituent of flatus is nitrogen. After nitrogen there are other gases like carbon dioxide, methane, sulphates, ammoniates etc. The reason why some flatus has a disagreeable odour when compared to others, is due to the presence of gases like methane, sulphurous compounds and other compounds like indole and skatole.
It is a commonly known fact that not all flatus have odour, the reason why some people produce flatus with odour where as others don’t is still not clear. However what is known that food stuffs that are rich in polysaccharides once consumed allow the bacteria present in the body to break down the polysaccharides and causes build up of flatus. In fact one of the leading ways of controlling flatulence is dietary control and staying away from food stuffs that might cause build up of flatus.
It is also a scientifically proven fact that flatulence occurs naturally during sleep, since the body is in a relaxed state the chances of the anal sphincter relaxing involuntarily is greater and it results in flatulence. Another interesting fact to note about flatulence is that the noise associate with flatus is actually caused by the vibration of the anal sphincter muscles and not due to the expelling of flatus.
In spite of being a normal biological function like breathing, flatus is considered a social taboo in cultures around the world, and this is the reason why flatulence is also a part of vulgar jokes the world over. The most popular fart jokes are based on the flammable nature of flatus, the truth is that only when the flatus has gases like methane is flatus flammable.
Flatulence is a natural phenomenon and only when it occurs too often or is uncontrollable is it a matter of concern. Other wise the effect of flatulence is purely cosmetic (attributed to the noise and odour) and the most a flatus can do is cause a little bit of embarrassment. Just like other social taboos like nudity, flatulence too is a fact of life.

Article Source: http://articleboard.findabook.com

Fartin Martin is the author of this article on fart sounds. Find more information about farting jokes here.

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