How Often Do Australians Fart? The Study of 6,416 People

Perhaps you do not keep a daily tally of how often your colon makes itself heard, but Australian researchers have nonetheless investigated the matter. After counting the emissions of more than 6,000 people, they arrived at a surprisingly modest average.

With a few isolated exceptions - among the Yanomami in the Amazon, for instance, or formerly in ancient Rome - flatulence remains culturally taboo. It is the sort of subject usually raised only with friends, or after a particularly robust third pint. Across most societies, breaking wind in public is still linked with embarrassment, poor hygiene, or even a form of sensory assault and bad manners. That is rather unfortunate, given that passing wind is generally a sign that the digestive system is working perfectly well.

Why flatulence has become a research subject

Even the scientific community avoided the topic for a long time, with almost all medical literature considering it solely through the lens of illness. It was only during the 2000s and 2010s that intestinal gas began to be viewed scientifically for what it is: a natural bodily response that can be examined as an entirely ordinary physiological process. With this in mind, two researchers at Australia’s CSIRO (Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation) simply set out to find out how often people pass wind in real life. Their study was published on 29 May in JAMA Network Open, one of the world’s most prestigious medical journals.

Gone with the wind: taking stock of intestinal emissions

To calculate the figures, the researchers used a purpose-built mobile app with the charming name Chart Your Fart. For anyone less comfortable with English, this translates literally as “Track Your Fart”. Participants were asked to use it to log every instance of intestinal gas in real time for at least three days. Altogether, 19,004 people downloaded the app, but only 6,416 met the study protocol requirements by genuinely tracking their flatulence for the required period.

Once the data had been combined, the average came to 5 farts a day, with a median of 3.8. Put another way, most participants (79.3%) fell within a range of 2 to 7 daily emissions, well towards the lower end of the 5-to-20 range suggested by nutrition textbooks. Men proved slightly more productive than women (5.2 versus 4.8 a day), while younger participants aged 14-25 were the most restrained of all age groups (4.4 a day).

The colon is at its most talkative between 18:00 and 22:00, which was what the research team expected. Food eaten during the day takes several hours to reach it, where bacteria ferment dietary fibre and then generate gas.

Figures that should be treated cautiously

The study does, however, have several methodological limitations. First, because participants had to log their own farts, the app could not record those passed overnight, which would naturally tend to lower the average.

Second, a day with no entries looked exactly the same in the data as a day genuinely free of flatulence. It was impossible to tell the difference between the traces - no pun intended - left by a missed log and those of a truly silent colon, meaning it is not possible to know whether the real average is below the calculated one.

Finally, although the cohort was fairly large, it consisted entirely of volunteers: only people sufficiently interested in their digestive health, or amused by the idea, downloaded the app. Such profiles may not represent the wider population, so a selection bias cannot be ruled out.

When flatulence should prompt medical advice

So, should you worry if your personal count exceeds the Australian average? Not really. The authors set no threshold beyond which passing wind would be regarded as abnormal, nor do they claim that their work can replace a gastroenterology assessment. Unless your digestive system matches the pace of a two-stroke engine, you probably have nothing to worry about.

However, if your farts smell like a corpse, or are accompanied by recurring abdominal cramps, blood in your stool or unexplained weight loss, stop counting them. See a doctor, or even a gastroenterologist directly. If the prospect of discussing the subject with a healthcare professional already makes you feel awkward, remember that they have heard it all before. Literally as well as figuratively, so rest assured: they have already dealt with worse than your little anal symphony.