Whatever you're celebrating, the holidays are a good excuse to eat, drink and make merry. Flatulence is one of the most immediate consequences of overindulging and a perennial topic of mirth. But it also raises genuine questions that you're probably too embarrassed to ask. We're here to help. Beans are not the only musical foods: flatus happens when we eat any complex carbohydrates. They are abundant in beans and pulses, but are also found in fruit and vegetables, dairy products, meat, alcoholic beverages and other goodies (yes, that's practically everything - the list of foods that can reduce your toots is short and filled with caveats). These compounds cannot be broken down in the small intestine, where most foods are digested, so pass unadulterated into the colon. Here, they are set upon by some 2 kilograms of bacteria, including the deceptively cuddly sounding Firmicutes and Bacteroidetes, which ferment the recalcitrant foodstuffs. The inevitable by-product is gas.
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