A doctor has taken to TikTok to encourage people to fart daily and revealed the rather bizarre thing that happens if you hold them in too long.
Dr Karan Rajan, who goes by the name @drkaranr on the video-sharing app, replied to a viewer who asked if farting too much is normal.
The NHS surgeon explained that people fart about 14 times a day on average and the daily volume is enough to fill up a medium-sized balloon.
“If someone tells you they don’t fart, they’re lying and you should disown them immediately or they’ve got a bowel obstruction, which is a medical emergency,” he says.
“The first fart of the day is usually the largest. 75% of fart are produced by bacteria in the large intestine.
(Image: TikTok/drkaranr)
“Digested food that isn’t broken down is chewed up by bacteria that produce microscopic fart that accumulate and become one of your regular fart.”
The remaining 25% of a fart swallowed air that you don’t burp and dissolved gases from the blood, which eventually make its way into the intestine.
Dr Karan said a fart is mostly made up of flammable substances like hydrogen and methane.
To his viewers’ surprise, 99% of fart is not smelly and the 1% that stink are “volatile sulphur compounds” like hydrogen sulphide.
(Image: Getty)
He adds: “If you hold in a fart too long, it can be reabsorbed into your bloodstream and breathed out when you exhale!”
But you don’t have to worry about smelling or tasting these farts as they make their way back out through your mouth.
As Healthline say, flatulence is made up of swallowed air and gas produced by bacteria in the colon from undigested carbohydrates.
It smells bad due to the breakdown of various foods into certain gases, primarily sulfur-containing gases. These aren’t reabsorbed by your body.
Dr Karan also said the noise of a fart is combination of anal sphincter vibrations and the percussions of your butt cheeks against each other.
“Fart velocity and butthole tightness determine the sound – anal embouchure,” he added.
The expert’s video has triggered a lot of interesting responses from his fans – including one said: “My bedtime fart is the worst.”
Another wrote: “This is hilarious. That 1% sulphur compound sure is powerful.”
“Mine is enough to fill up balloons for a party,” a third added.