Gerrard Kaonga
A study looked at which of the sexes produced the worst farts, and came to the conclusion that women’s toots smelt the most ‘offensive’.
Everybody farts, and we are okay with that, even when they smell a little off.
But a 1998 study concluded that, on average, women’s gas smelt worse than men's for a pretty simple reason.
Dr Michael Levit, a gastroenterologist, conducted the study way back then and managed to get a reputation as the ‘king of farts’ for his work.
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So how did the study work?
Well, the doctor recruited 16 healthy adults with no history of gastrointestinal issues and had each of them strap on a ‘flatus collection system’, which is basically a rectal tube connected to a bag.
While it is estimated that people fart up to 23 times a day, the doctor didn’t fancy waiting around for those moments.
Instead, participants chowed down on pinto beans and took a laxative, with researchers collecting their farts.
These farts were then analyzed as researchers ran a gas chromatographic–mass spectroscopic test to figure out what was essentially inside those bags.
And most disturbingly, they also simply put it to a sniff test with two judges who had to rate each of them.
The two judges amazingly were unaware they were smelling human farts and had to rate them on a scale of 0 to 8, with 8 being ‘very offensive’.
The research team found that the main gases responsible for the fart odor are sulfur-containing compounds, most notably hydrogen sulfide.
The study noted that while men tended to have larger volumes of gas, female farts contained a ‘significantly higher concentration’ of hydrogen sulfide than that of their male counterparts.
The judges also agreed that the women’s flatulence had a ‘greater odor intensity’ than men’s.
The Cleveland Clinic has also explained the science behind farts.
Gastroenterologist Christine Lee explained that farts form in one of two ways: through food digestion and swallowing air.
She noted that what you eat ends up in your gut, where it’s broken down while being digested. This process creates hydrogen, carbon dioxide, methane and other gases that fuel flatulence.
She also explained that the average person swallows about two quarts of air a day while chewing, talking, snoring and drinking. While most of this comes back up as burps, it can also sometimes travel through your intestine before being farted out.
The more you know.