What Different Fart Smells (And Sensations) Can Tell You About Your Health

Even if you won’t admit it to yourself, we all love the smell of our own farts. In fact, back in 2014, ScienceAlert revealed that we find our farts more appealing than the smell of others. However, do you ever find that your farts even disgust you?

Or that what you thought would be a subtle, silent fart is actually silent-but-violent?

Well, according to NHS Surgeon and health communicator Dr Karan Rajan, we could actually learn a lot about our health and what we’re missing in our diets just by how our farts smell and feel.

In an Instagram post, Dr Rajan says: “If your farts are silent but deadly, you might not be eating enough fibre.”

If this sounds familiar, you’re not alone.

The British Heart Foundation advises: “In the UK, the government recommends adults eat 30g of fibre per day, but most of us fall short, averaging around 17g a day.”

Ever do an absolute arse trumpet of a fart, expecting to clear the room but actually, there’s no smell? Dr Rajan says this means that your gut bacteria have been “fermenting fibre”.

He explains: “When your gut bacteria have plenty of fibre, that’s what they eat first. Fermenting fibre makes carbon dioxide, hydrogen and methane and none of these gases smell.”

All of this gassy talk had me wondering about warm or burning farts. These are usually experienced when feeling quite under the weather, so I wondered what caused the change-up.

Healthline explains: “Having less gas to pass may make toots seem hotter. That’s because when gas is expelled with a bit of force — that is, you have more to pass — it clears your rectum quickly. You don’t typically feel the air warm up around your anus.

“If you have less gas, however, the gas may move slower with less force. In that case, the air may linger right around your bum, heating up the skin slightly.”