What Are Gas and Flatulence?

What are Gas and Flatulence: 

Flatulence is a medical term for releasing gas from the digestive system through the anus. It is also commonly known as farting, passing wind, or having gas. It occurs when gas collects inside the digestive system.Gas collects in two main ways. First, when you swallow air during eating or drinking, oxygen and nitrogen collect in the digestive tract. Second, as you digest food, digestive gases such as hydrogen, methane, and carbon dioxide collect. Either case can cause flatulence.

Flatulence (Gas) Overview

Flatulence is the state of having excessive stomach or intestinal gas. This can result in uncomfortable feelings of bloating, as well as increased belching (burping) or passing of gas from the rectum.
Most people produce about 1-3 pints of gas a day, and pass gas about 14 times a day. Flatulence itself, although not life-threatening, can definitely cause social embarrassment. This embarrassment is often the reason why people might seek medical help for excessive gas.

• History has numerous anecdotal accounts of flatulence, including Hippocrates himself professing, "Passing gas is necessary to well-being." The Roman Emperor Claudius equally decreed that "all Roman citizens shall be allowed to pass gas whenever necessary."
• In the mid-1800s flatulence took center stage with the French entertainer Joseph Pugol ("Le Petomane"). Pugol was able to pass gas at will and at varying pitch, thereby playing tunes for sold-out shows at the Moulin Rouge. 
• More recently, flatulence was immortalized by Mel Brooks in the movie Blazing Saddles with his bean-eating cowboys.

If a person is concerned about excess gas, it is not a laughing matter. It is a medical concern that individual's will want to talk about with a health care professional.

• The primary components of gas (known as flatus, pronounced FLAY-tuss) are five odorless gases: nitrogen, hydrogen, carbon dioxide, methane, and oxygen.
• The characteristic smelly odor is attributed to trace gases such as skatole, indole, and sulfur-containing compounds.
• The flammable character of flatus is caused by hydrogen and methane. The proportions of these gases depend largely on the bacteria that live in the human colon that digest, or ferment, food that has not been absorbed by the gastrointestinal (GI) tract before reaching the colon.
• An estimated 30-150 grams of this undigested food reach the colon in the form of carbohydrate every day. But this amount can vary with diet and how well the GI tract is functioning. 

Flatulence is defined in the medical literature as "flatus expelled through the anus" or the "quality or state of being flatulent",^[1] which is defined in turn as "marked by or affected with gases generated in the intestine or stomach; likely to cause digestive flatulence."^[2] The root of these words is from the Latin flatus – "a blowing, a breaking wind".^[3] Flatus is also the medical word for gas generated in the stomach or bowels.^[4] These standard definitions do not reflect the fact that a proportion of intestinal gas may be composed of swallowed environmental air, and hence flatus is not totally generated in the stomach or bowels. The scientific study of this area of medicine is termed flatology.^[5]
It is normal for humans to pass flatus through the rectum, although the amount and the frequency may vary greatly between individuals. It is also normal for intestinal gas passed through the rectum to have a characteristic feculent smell, although this too may vary in concentration. Flatus is brought to the rectum by specialised contractions of the muscles in the intestines and colon. The noises commonly associated with flatulence ("Blowing a raspberry") are caused by the vibration of anal sphincters, and occasionally by the closed buttocks. Both the noise and smell associated with flatus leaving the anus can be sources of embarrassment or comedy in many cultures.
There are five general symptoms related to intestinal gas: pain, bloating and abdominal distension, excessive flatus volume, excessive flatus smell and gas incontinence. Furthermore, eructation ("an act or instance of belching", colloquially known as "burping") is sometimes included under the topic of flatulence

Flatulating at will 

Historical comment on the ability to fart at will is observed as early as Saint Augustine's The City of God (5th century AD). Augustine mentions men who "have such command of their bowels, that they can break wind continuously at will, so as to produce the effect of singing". Intentional passing of gas and its use as entertainment for others appear to have been somewhat well known in pre-modern Europe, according to mentions of it in medieval and later literature, including Rabelais.
Le Pétomane ("the Fartomaniac") was a famous French performer in the 19th century who, as well as many professional farters before him, did flatulence impressions and held shows. The performer Mr. Methane carries on le Pétomane's tradition today. Also, a 2002 film Thunderpants revolves around a boy named Patrick Smash who has an ongoing flatulence problem since he was a newborn baby. He eventually overcame his problems and fulfilled his dreams including being an astronaut.

What is gas/flatulence?

 

Gas is air in the digestive tract—the large, muscular tube that extends from the mouth to the anus, where the movement of muscles, along with the release of hormones and enzymes, allows for the digestion of food. Gas leaves the body when people burp through the mouth or pass gas through the anus.
Gas is primarily composed of carbon dioxide, oxygen, nitrogen, hydrogen, and sometimes methane. Flatus, gas passed through the anus, may also contain small amounts of gasses that contain sulfur. Flatus that contains more sulfur gasses has more odor.
Everyone has gas. However, many people think they burp or pass gas too often and that they have too much gas. Having too much gas is rare.