Bean eating / fart scene from
Mel Brooks' movie,
"Blazing Saddles"
Why beans
make you fart
Flatus from the terminal end of the human gastrointestinal tract
(and other animals as well), is gas. This gas typically
comprises, hydrogen, carbon dioxide and methane. In humans, this
emission is odiriferous because it contains breakdown products
thus:
hydrogen sulphide >> methanethiol >> dimethyl sulphide
But, the
association of beans with gaseous emissions is due to the fact
that the digestive system of many humans cannot completely
digest the causal compounds which are the sugars
raffinose, stachyose, and verbascose. However, bacteria in human
guts can use these sugars as carbon sources, the result of which
is the evolution of carbon dioxide, hydrogen and methane. The
presence of hydrogen is the reason why we hear of urban tales of
school boys trying to light their farts with matchsticks
(hydrogen combined with oxygen in the air makes for an explosive
mix).
Lactose intolerant
people have the same gaseous problem for a similar reason. Their
inability to process lactose into its base molecules of
galactose and glucose leaves the dimer available for gut
bacteria to indulge in it and produce gas as one of the end
products.
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