Why your farts smell so bad? Here are some tips to make them less pungent

Admit it! There may be a time when you must have become a butt of jokes among people for all smelly reasons! Come on, we all are human beings and we all fart, don’t we? But the problem is the farts smell so bad that it becomes a huge embarrassment for the one who gets caught. 

Now, the question is why the farts smell so bad and what can be done to make them less smelly?

According to researchers foods that are rich in starch, such as, potatoes, bananas, legumes, cereals, artichokes, may act as a resistant to hydrogen sulphide gas by up to 75 per cent.

A team of researchers have presented the study at a Gastroenterological Society of Australia conference in Adelaide.
Researchers found that the farts may be smelly because of a component called cysteine found in meat, dairy and other types of protein.

Scientists mixed faeces with foods having different nutritional components. They then checked the intensity of smell each time and tried to find out which component actually created that bad smell.

Cysteine increases the amount of hydrogen sulphide gas in stomach seven-fold and this gas makes your farts so anti-social, the Mirror reported.

Chu Yao and her team of researchers at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia, said that with all rich food and sprouts, this time of year is particularly ripe for some pungent expulsions.

By mixing different nutritional components scientists have been experimenting in order to find out what contributes to the bad smell.

“This explains why bodybuilders who consume lots of protein powder are known to have smelly farts,” said Chu.
The researchers believe that they can even reduce the smell.

Fart consists of 59 per cent nitrogen, 21 per cent hydrogen, 9 per cent carbon dioxide, 7 per cent methane, and 4 per cent oxygen. It occurs due to many reasons, from swallowed air to chemical reactions in the intestines.

Researchers say they have also found a way to reduce the amount of hydrogen sulphide by at least 75 per cent. Want to make your farts less smelly, here is what you should eat: Potatoes, bananas,  legumes, cereals, artichokes, asparagus, fructans (found in wheat).

The researchers said that when you eat starchy food, it forces your stomach to break down starch first and the focus is thus shifted from protein which reduces the production of hydrogen sulphide eventually. Hence, lower the production of hydrogen sulphide, less the intensity of pungent smell in your fart.

What is Cysteine?

Cysteine is a semi-essential proteinogenic amino acid and is also known as Cys or C. Cysteine contains thiol side chain that often participates in enzymatic reactions, as a nucleophile.