Factors That Can Lead To Flatulence - By: Jenna Rivers

The condition of having excess gas in the stomach or the intestines is called flatulence. Gases are produced by bacteria which are natural flora of the intestines. This is a very cumbersome thing that can afflict anyone who is working. Even if you want to control it, you cannot hold it for a long time.

The natural bacteria of the intestines produce hydrogen gas or methane when digesting food composed of sugars & polysaccharides. Most commonly undigested and unabsorbed sugars are lactose, fructose, & sorbitol. Fructose is frequently used as a sweetener for all soda and candies. Lactose is the sugar naturally found in milk. If a person genetically lacks the lactase enzyme in the inside layer of his intestines, he wont be able to digest milk. This is a result of the break down of lactase into lactose in order to be digested. This is otherwise known as lactose-intolerant. An artificial sugar that is also being used as a sweetener in diet food is sorbitol.

Starch also causes gastro-intestinal gas. These polysaccharides that come from plants consist of long chains of sugars such as fructose. Potatoes, rice, corn, oats, and wheat are frequent sources of starch. Among these, rice is the most likely to be digested in the stomach. Thus, rice does not produce a lot of gas. On the other hand, some starches from potatoes, wheat, oats, and corn reach the colon. Thus, they have the tendency to produce gas in greater amounts. Moreover, whole grain starches are greater gas producers than refined grain starch. Therefore, flour made from whole wheat produce much gas than flour from refined wheat. This is possibly due to fiber which is a complex starch. During the procedure of turning whole grains to refined flour, a large amount of the fiber is taken out.

Lastly, some kinds of vegetables & fruit, particularly cabbage, also have starches that are hard to digest and get through to the colon resulting in gas. This is made possible of component cellulose, which is also a kind of polysaccharide that can reach up to the small intestine. Although cellulose is seldom used by the bacteria of the colon, thats why they dont produce a lot of gas. That is, unless they are composed of other polysaccharides that are not cellulose.

Small amounts of the air we breathe are always swallowed which is added to the gas produced by the colon bacteria. Therefore, the body must expel these gases to prevent accumulation.

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