Bloating and foul smelling farts

Bloating and more farts indicate that there is a lot of gas production in the colon. Normal digestion produces odourless gases such as hydrogen and methane. Foul smelling gas indicates that the fermentation is happening in an undesirable way in the colon. This means that the fermentation is done by some bacteria other than the regular bacteria.

So, the first reason is increase in relative abundance of one species of bacteria which can produce foul smelling gases such as hydrogen sulphide.

The second reason is based on simple logic. More fermentation --> more gas production. So, longer the feces stays in the colon, more amount of gas is produced.

Normally, the undigested dietary fiber is fermented by bacteria and gas is produced. This mostly produces odourless gas.

Third possible reason is faster movement of gut which causes improper digestion and absorption of nutrients. Improperly digested foods reach the colon and certain species of bacteria feed on them and produce gas. If this improper digestion continues, then, that particular species of bacteria also grow in relative abundance. Hence, more gas is produced.

Also, it is observed that whenever multivitamin tablet/capsule is taken, more amount of foul smelling gas is produced. Fish consumption also slightly increases foul smelling gas.

 

Tips to avoid gas:

1. Chew the food well so that easy digestion takes place and the nutrients are absorbed well.

2. Avoid constipation

3. Eat well-cooked food OR predigested food such as soup, broth etc.

4. Take probiotics and prebiotics to restore the healthy balance of bacteria in the colon.

Update on 1 Dec 2021:

1. Avoiding wholegrain bread at breakfast did not produce the foul smelling fart. 

Update on 17 Feb 2023:

Consumption of osteocare (calcium+magnesium+zinc+vitamin D) for few days reduced the foul smelling farts an feces.

Update on 22 Dec 2023:

I got respiratory infection and doctor prescribed azithromycin 500 mg OD for 3 days. Then I got diarrhea. (daily two times with bloating, symptoms resembling inflammatory bowel disease diarrhea predominant). Then, doctor prescribed mtronidazole 500 mg BID x 7 days. For first few days, metronidazole caused headache. After that, it seems the body adapted to it. The diarrhea stopped a little. After consuming giner tea daily for few days stopped the diarrhea completely. After this, farting also reduced. Foul smelling also reduced.

Stomach bloating - causes and cures

For the past few weeks, I stopped taking any non vegetarian foods except eggs. During the last week, my stomach bloated (increased in circumference ~ 2-4 inches) made me unable to put on my pants. My belly bulged like a pregnant woman gave me heavy embarassment. Then one day, at lunch and dinner I took two drum stick pieces of chicken. The next day morning, my stomach bloating went away and I was able to put on the same pant without much difficulty. I am suprised to know that my stomach is the root cause of many problems.

I realized that I have stomach bloating when I was 24 years old. I used to have stomach bloating almost throughout the day. But I used to defecate every morning mostly after taking milk tea. No constipation. After defecation, my stomach bloating used to decrease. After taking the breakfast, it used to increase slowly reaching the maximum after lunch, bulging out visibly. In the evenig after taking tea, I used to fart loudly and continuously. The gases in my colon made me to fart loudly. If I didn't fart loudly, I used to feel incompleteness.

From the scientific literature, I understand that, gas formation is responsible for the stomach bloating. However, more than gas formation, it is the hypersensitivity of the intestinal tract to the formed gas matters most. This type of behavior was observed in crohn's patients. So, I checked for symptoms of the Crohn's disease. I never used to have stomach or abdominal pain or constipation. So, I may not have Crohn's disease. I thought I may have inflammatory bowel disease (IBS). So, I checked for IBS symptoms. The Rome III criteria states that abdominal pain or abdominal discomfort is the main symptom and it should be relieved by defecation. I never used to have abdominal pain or discomfort. I used to have only stomach bloating.

Serotonin, dopamine and stomach bloating

I used to feel increased stomach bloating when I used to take serotonergic enhancing formulas like 5-HTP, Magnesium amd chromium. I have to check the effect of fluoxetine on this. When I was taking bupropion, my stomach bloating decreased very much and also farting. No loud farts I did. These observations suggest that my intestinal tract is deficient in dopamine and have relative abundance of serotonin. Improper  serotonin/dopamine ratio exists in my intestinal tract. So, the serotonin produces its maximum effect. Without enough dopamine, my intestinal tract bloats. The fried chicken that I took, might have enhanced the dopamine levels in the intestinal tract thus reducing stomach bloating.

It is also mentioned in the below reference that the abnormal sensitivity of the stomach muscle wall in response to the expansion of intestinal tract may also contribute to stomach bloating.

Suggestions to cure stomach bloating

• Ensure regular consumption of foods that increase dopamine neurotransmission
• Do exercises to strengthen the stomach muscles so that their hypersensitivity can be blunted.
• Consume curd/yoghurt with bacterial cultures such as Bifidobacterium and Lactobacillus (probiotic preparations)  

Reference and for more information, please visit:
http://www.med.unc.edu/medicine/fgidc/abdominalbloating.pdf