Claire Gillespie of Health asks the (literally) burning question: Does farting burn calories?
The average person farts up to 23 times a day, according to the Cleveland Clinic, so it’s really unavoidable.
On the Internet, entire reddit threads are devoted to the issue, and one even shares that “one fart burns approximately 67 calories,” according to a Google screenshot. “Farting, also known as flatulence, happens when you have excess gas in the stomach and/or intestines,” Tanya B. Freirich, MS, RD, New York-based nutritionist and registered dietitian for Sweet Nova, tells Health. “Expelling that gas through your anus creates a fart.”
Excess gas could be due to many different factors, such as malabsorption of food, increased fiber intake or swallowing a lot of air while eating.
“A common example of malabsorption of food is lactose intolerance,” Freirich explains. “Without the correct enzymes, the body doesn’t digest dairy sugar (lactose) properly, and produces excess gas as those sugars are fermented in the digestive tract.”
Cruciferous vegetables like sprouts, cabbage, broccoli and cauliflower are also well-known for causing more gas production. Other foods that often cause a stink are beans and dried fruits.
Farting does not burn any measurable calories. “While calorie burn would be the silver lining on this stinky cloud, farting doesn’t burn calories,” Freirich says. This is because calorie burn is caused by muscle activation, and farting happens when muscles (in the anus) relax, she adds. Even when you bear down to push some gas out, no calorie are burned.
And let us all never forget the time Dianne Feinstein had to pretend she didn’t hear Trump fart pic.twitter.com/9LrDtulu2Q
