I’m an NHS doctor and here’s the grim reason you should never hold in a fart | The Sun

WE'VE all been there.

You need to let one go but you're in a pretty busy place and you're worried it might be loud or worse – stink.


Whatever you call it passing wind, letting one go, having a trump, we all do it.

But one NHS doctor has revealed the grim reason as to why you should never hold your farts in.

Posting to TikTok, Dr Karan Raj explained that on average, people fart around 14 times a day.

He joked: "The more the merrier. If someone tells you they don't fart they are lying and you should disown them immediately or they have got a bowel obstruction which is a medical emergency."

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The NHS doctor explained to his 4.2 million TikTok followers that the average fart volume is enough to fill up a medium-sized balloon.

He cautioned: "If you hold in a fart too long it can be reabsorbed into your blood circulation and breathed out when you exhale."

This could mean that your breath smells pretty bad.

One expert previously said holding in trapped wind can cause abdominal distension.

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Professor Clare Collins, a nutrition and dietetics expert at the University of Newcastle said holding on too long means the build up of intestinal gas will eventually escape via an uncontrollable fart.

Dr Karan explained: "The first fart of your day is usually the largest. 75 per cent of farts are produced by bacteria in the large intestine.

"Digestive food that isn't broken down is chewed up by bacteria that produces microscopic farts and these accumulate before becoming your regular farts.

"25 per cent of farts is swallowed air that your don't burp and dissolved gas is from the blood making its way into your intestines.

"99 per cent of a fart is non-stinky gases such as hydrogen, carbon dioxide and methane."

He added that hydrogen and methane are flammable which is why you can light a fart on fire – although he was clear to point out that this was not recommended.

STINKY PANTS

The one per cent of farts that do stink are volatile sulphur compounds like hydrogen sulphide, he said.

"The noise of a fart is a combination of the anal sphincter vibrations and the percussion of the bum cheeks against each other.

"Fart velocity and bum hold tightness determine the sound – which is also known as anal embouchure", Dr Karan added.

Another TikTok doctor also previously highlighted that you should let out your farts to avoid your burps smelling like you've just let one off.

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Dr Faraz said: "If you hold in a fart you can cause yourself heartburn, bloating and pain.

"The gas could come out as a smelly burp and make your breath stink. Imagine doing a burp that smells like a fart."

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