Danish and British gastroenterologists have released a report on letting one rip – they call it flatulence – inspired by a flight between Copenhagen and Tokyo.
The report says pilots should cut the cheese for safety reasons but admit passengers may loose the attention of attendants should they indulge.
Apparently people fart about 10 times a day and it’s a natural result of digestion, but we do it more on flights because of changes in the volume of intestinal gasses when the cabin pressure changes.
Hans Christian Pommergaard, Jakob Burcharth, Anders Fischer, William Thomas and Professor Rosenberg tell the New Zealand Medical Journal that not farting is more of a crowd pleaser, but not good for the individual with stress, discomfort, pain, bloating, dyspepsia and other symptoms.
“There is actually only one reasonable solution … just let it go,” they say.
They warn that the drawbacks of not farting are greater for a pilot.
“If the pilot restrains a fart, all the drawbacks previously mentioned, including diminished concentration, may affect his abilities to control the airplane,” the researchers say.
“If he lets go of the fart his co-pilot may be affected by its odour, which again reduces safety on board the flight.”
It’s a vicious cycle.
Other gems of wisdom to come from the report include advising against lighting farts, either as a prank but they probably mean as a way to reduce the odour – though they acknowledge that works.
They also said women’s farts tend to smell worse than men’s.
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