WHY DO BEANS MAKE YOU FART?

There is a universal truth, farts make you laugh - most of the time. This is also accompanied by another truth that beans make you fart - but why does this happen?

How is it that beans can produce unsavory gases when, say, rice produces none at all? The secret lies in the bacteria that is present in your gut!

Beans, as well as other gassy foods such as cabbage, soy beans, peas and onions, are naturally sweetened with a family of sugars called oligosaccharides. These sugars are large, clumsy molecules, and - unlike normal sugars - they are too big to make it into your body through the lining of the small intestine. Normally enzymes in the small intestine would rush in and break down these molecules into smaller, more manageable pieces, however, the human body does not produce an an anti-oligosaccharide enzyme!

That being the case, these complex sugars pass untouched through the small intestine and so gain entry to the large intestine still bearing its valuable energy. Specialist bacteria in the large-intestine are able to break down these complex sugars, but as a by product of this metabolism they let out hydrogen, nitrogen and carbon dioxide gas. In essence, your gut accumulates millions of tiny bacterial blow-offs! Once the gases produced by the bacteria have reached a critical pressure within the gut, it is released - unceremoniously - out of your bum.

And that is why beans make you fart - I thank you!

For related articles click onto the following links:
HOW TO GROW PEAS FROM SEED
Why do beans make you fart?
WHERE DOES THE WIND COME FROM?
WHY IS THE SKY BLUE?