It’s happened to all of us: you’re on a date, in the middle of a class presentation, or halfway through a job interview and you need to let one rip. But you’d rather die than cut the cheese in front of another person, so you hold it in. Seems harmless enough – and even the polite thing to do – right? Well, according to one TikTok doctor, you might be doing more harm than good by keeping your gas to yourself.
As NHS surgeon Dr. Karan Rajan explains in a now-viral video, “If you hold in a fart too long, it can be reabsorbed into your bloodstream and breathed out when you exhale.”
@dr.karanrReply to @mrgreentee #schoolwithdrkaran #learnontiktok #CinderellaMovie #funfacts♬ original sound – Dr Karan Raj
The good doctor isn’t just blowing smoke up your ass. There’s actually research to back up his ass-ertion. A 2018 study by Clare Collins, a professor in nutrition and dietetics at Australia’s University of Newcastle, found that “a buildup of intestinal gas can trigger abdominal distension, with some gas reabsorbed into the circulation and exhaled in your breath.”
Yikes. That doesn’t sound like something even a handful of mints could help.
The fact is: everybody farts – and they do so more often than you’d think.
“On average, people fart 14 times a day,” the TikTok doc claims. “If someone tells you they don’t fart, they are lying and you should disown them immediately. Or they’ve got a bowel obstruction, which is a medical emergency.”
So the next time you need to break wind, find a discreet place to do so and let ‘er rip. It’s for your health.