Be honest: it’s not farting that bothers you, it’s when your farts are really stinky. Skipping fibre might make you fart less, but it won’t get rid of that rotten-egg smell we all dread. Instead, take a good look at your cysteine-containing protein sources.
Cysteine is an amino acid (one of the building blocks of protein) that contains sulphur. The microbes in your gut can turn it into hydrogen sulfide, a gas with a rotten egg smell.
New research, presented at an Australian gastroenterology conference but not yet published or peer-reviewed, found that cysteine-rich foods were the worst culprits when it comes to stinking up the room.
The lead researcher told New Scientist that fibre does make you fart more, but that’s no reason to avoid it:
“When we dug down, it wasn’t the act of farting that worried people, it was the smell,” she says. “But the concerning thing is that there are all these people walking around constipated because they are too scared to eat fibre in case they do a bad fart.”
In fact, if you want to find low-cysteine protein sources, beans are one of your best bets. Fear of farts is no reason to avoid fibre.
Check out the link below for more details on the new research.
How to Prevent Smelly Farts [New Scientist]
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