Mental Health

Top Healthy Foods That Can Cause Serious Flatulence

By Christine Hsu | Update Date: Aug 05, 2014 07:04 PM EDT

Passing gas or flatulence is perfectly normal. It happens when the stomach contains too much intestinal gas, which can lead to feelings of bloating, burping or farting. The average person farts 14 times and produced about one to three pints gas a day, according to emedicinehealth.com. While passing gas is normal and not dangerous, unexpected flatulence often leads to great embarrassment. So if you don't want to toot while giving a speech, going on a date, having sex or attending a meeting, here a list of the most "musical" foods you should avoid...

1. Beans

How are you supposed to enjoy your burrito without a side of pinto beans?  These healthy legumes are notorious for causing flatulence. This is because they are high in carbohydrates called raffinose and stachyose, which contain molecules that are too big to be absorbed by the small intestine. Therefore, these molecules need to pass through the large intestine tract, where the process of digesting the soluble fiber generates high levels of hydrogen, nitrogen, and carbon dioxide gas.

2. Healthy Greens

Just like beans, they make passing wind inevitable. While vegetables like Brussels sprouts, cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower and kale also contain lots of nutrients that boost physical health and fertility, they contain raffinose, which can't be completely broken down in the small intestine, which lack certain enzymes needed to digest Brussels sprouts. This means these greens will make their way to the large intestinal tract, where they will produce high levels of smelly gas.

3. Onions

They're great in almost everything. However, digesting them smells just as bad as preparing them. The reason behind this is because these layered veggies are very acidic and also contain a lot of starch. Once again, the stomach will have problems digesting these complex molecules and the excess gas produced in the large intestine will soon expend itself.

4. Certain Fruits

You can't compare apples and oranges, but you can certainly find some similarities between this crispy snack to other fruits like bananas, grapes, melons, peaches, pears and plums.  This is because these fruits contain high amounts of the sorbitol, naturally-occurring sugars that are also used in many sugar-free candies, drinks and sweets. Like raffinose, the stomach has a hard time digesting them. Therefore, excess amounts of gas form in the big intestines and the increase the likelihood of accidental farts.

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