# Is it possible for a person to never fart? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 4, 2010, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-for-a-person-to-never-fart/559447 "2010-11-04T13:33:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![StusBlues](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dc4da7/32.png) [@StusBlues](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StusBlues)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2010, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-for-a-person-to-never-fart/559447/21 "2010-11-04T18:28:54Z")
> [@lieu](#): > > What would you consider them… propellant? “Fellow travellers” with their attendant poo, I should think. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2010, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-for-a-person-to-never-fart/559447/22 "2010-11-04T18:33:30Z")
What about burping? I almost never burp, and I can’t make myself burp either. Is that unusual, too? (Yes, I do fart consistently. Ew, that felt so gross to write out.) ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2010, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-for-a-person-to-never-fart/559447/23 "2010-11-04T19:50:07Z")
> [@StusBlues](#): > > It may be possible that she only expells gas when she defecates. Said emmissions may not, under some systems of gaseous taxonomy, be considered farts _per se_. > [@lieu](#): > > What would you consider them… propellant? Eau de Poo ---
**Author:** ![robcaro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/df705f/32.png) [@robcaro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robcaro)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2010, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-for-a-person-to-never-fart/559447/24 "2010-11-04T19:56:39Z")
Hmmm, a fart by any other name is still a fart.😃 ---
**Author:** ![purplehorseshoe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/purplehorseshoe/32/2996_2.png) [@purplehorseshoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehorseshoe)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2010, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-for-a-person-to-never-fart/559447/25 "2010-11-04T20:06:55Z")
There are _tears_ running down my face, and I’m at _work_, people! Why, _why_ do I open threads with “fart” in the title at work? I know better than that … don’t I? (I lost all self-control at “some systems of gaseous taxonomy.”) **Slit** , I can’t make myself burp, either, so don’t feel so alone. Can’t fart on cue, either, and I’m a tiny bit afraid I’d shit myself if I tried too hard. ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2010, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-for-a-person-to-never-fart/559447/26 "2010-11-04T20:19:41Z")
> [@Ionizer](#): > > Doc said the depressurization, through a little barium-enema tip inserted ‘manually’, took a looooong time. Stunk up quite a bit of first-floor of that side of hospital, too. I just can’t imagine the pSi present in that colon. Goin’ in I bet the Doc felt like [this](http://www.moviemobsters.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/the-hurt-locker-poster.jpg) guy. ---
**Author:** ![Oglomott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/oglomott/32/3543_2.png) [@Oglomott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oglomott)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2010, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-for-a-person-to-never-fart/559447/27 "2010-11-05T00:31:07Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > Sounds like one for the Mythbusters. They’ve taken on flatulence myths in the past. [They already did.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RHcDP_Yew-g) ---
**Author:** ![LawMonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d6d6ee/32.png) [@LawMonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LawMonkey)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2010, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-for-a-person-to-never-fart/559447/28 "2010-11-05T00:46:50Z")
> [@Ionizer](#): > > If you did not fart, at some point, it’d get problematic (probably) 🙂 Nothing as bad as that story, but… When I was in highschool and early college, I worked at a local grocery store. One of the other people on our stocking crew had notoriously pungent and frequent gas; the rest of us teased her mercilessly. I didn’t want to wind up the subject of that kind of teasing, so at some point I decided to fart no more while at work. Don’t really remember deciding not to let it out at home either, but whatever the reason, I wasn’t releasing the pressure. I’d say it took a few weeks before I was in the worst sort of pain. Not necessarily constant, though there was a constant level of discomfort, but frequent abdominal pains bad enough to double me over. I put up with that longer than anyone with any sense would’ve, then finally gave it up and went to the bathroom one night at work and… oh, the relief. 😃 Learned my lesson–since then, I’m careful to release the pressure as needed. ---
**Author:** ![Lightlystarched](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Lightlystarched](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lightlystarched)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2010, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-for-a-person-to-never-fart/559447/29 "2010-11-05T01:23:54Z")
I’m not going to say I never fart, but I never fart outside of the one in the morning. You know, that first morning pee/fart? I attribute it to giving up grains. They made me miserable, only I didn’t know how much until I quit eating them. ---
**Author:** ![Lightlystarched](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Lightlystarched](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lightlystarched)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2010, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-for-a-person-to-never-fart/559447/30 "2010-11-05T01:25:31Z")
Oh, dh quit farting except appropriately in the bathroom at the expected time, when he quit the bread too. ---
**Author:** ![jackdavinci](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackdavinci/32/3259_2.png) [@jackdavinci](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackdavinci)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2010, 7:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-for-a-person-to-never-fart/559447/31 "2010-11-05T07:23:52Z")
No (unless you have no intestinal bacteria in which case I don’t know what would happen but my guess is unending diarrhea, or else you severely limit your diet to not-gas-producing foods, in which case I imagine there are side effects but I don’t know what they are). But it’s certainly possible for a person to minimize the “experience” of farting. They can either, as others have mentioned, fart only during pooing sessions, or alternately, you can fart in such a way as it’s a really slow leak, rather than intermittent large bubbles. In which case, it’s possibly below the threshold of noticeability for both you and your surrounding humans. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2010, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-for-a-person-to-never-fart/559447/32 "2010-11-05T13:19:54Z")
> [@jackdavinci](#): > > No (unless you have no intestinal bacteria in which case I don’t know what would happen but my guess is unending diarrhea, or else you severely limit your diet to not-gas-producing foods, in which case I imagine there are side effects but I don’t know what they are). There is no such thing as “not-gas-producing foods”. There are foods which produce more gas than others, but anything with polysaccharides can be fermented by bacteria, producing gas. Starches or glycogen will do, and that’s in everything we can eat, except maybe an all lard diet. So the main side effect of a not-gas-producing food diet would be an acute case of death by starvation. 😃 As for eliminating all intestinal bacterial, while the constant diarrhea would be annoying, the more dangerous effect is infection. Intestinal flora stimulate the GALT (immune system cells), which uses the bacteria as templates to form antibodies against other more nefarious bacteria. These cross-reactive antibodies then leave the intestine, searching for bacteria throughout the body and destroying them before they can cause infection. No bacteria, no cross-reactive antibodies, more infections all over the body, not just in the intestines. You’d also be more prone to vitamin deficiencies. We rely on our intestinal flora to make Vitamin K and some of the B’s, IIRC. So not only is that diarrhea going to dehydrate and interfere with our absorption of vitamins and other nutrients from our food, but we won’t have our back up supply of locally grown vitamins to replace what we’re not getting from our food. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2010, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-for-a-person-to-never-fart/559447/33 "2010-11-05T14:54:34Z")
Sure, just blame it on the dog. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2010, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-for-a-person-to-never-fart/559447/34 "2010-11-05T15:00:17Z")
> [@StusBlues](#): > > It may be possible that she only expells gas when she defecates. Said emmissions may not, under some systems of gaseous taxonomy, be considered farts _per se_. That is about the only time I fart. Unless I eat a really fartmakingly heavy meal of all Colibrifoods, I rarely ever pass gas while awake. I believe it is due to my dietary control regimen for diabetes. Though I have noticed that lentils don’t tend to give me gas like kidney or great northern beans do, and I tend to prefer lentils. I have also noticed that adding beano when I do eat chili or baked beans does not seem to have any effect on my pooting. ---
**Author:** ![FartLighter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e68b1a/32.png) [@FartLighter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FartLighter)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2010, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-for-a-person-to-never-fart/559447/35 "2010-11-11T21:23:05Z")
I could never date a girl, or even even be friends with someone, who claims they never fart. ---
**Author:** ![brossa](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/brossa/32/3040_2.png) [@brossa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brossa)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2010, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-for-a-person-to-never-fart/559447/36 "2010-11-11T23:13:38Z")
Half of the gas in your toots is swallowed air anyway. So even if she had no gut flora and was getting purely IV nutrition, she’d still have to burp and fart at some point. Swallowing small amounts of air is unavoidable. ---
**Author:** ![Wile\_E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c37758/32.png) [@Wile\_E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wile_E)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2010, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-for-a-person-to-never-fart/559447/37 "2010-11-12T03:22:10Z")
> [@WhyNot](#): > > … > > If she’s truly under the impression that she \*never \*farts, I’d seriously consider examining her for some sort of neural or muscular deficit related to her ass. I guess it’s possible that she’s got so little tone in her anal sphincter that she can’t feel gas passing, but that would cause some other conditions (like uncontrollable feces) that I would think she’d be aware of. > > … This reminds me of the Family Guy parody of the Shawshank Redemption. After the implied prison rape scene they say his farts never made a sound again and you hear a quiet whooshing sound. > [@FartLighter](#): > > I could never date a girl, or even even be friends with someone, who claims they never fart. User name/post combo win. ---
**Author:** ![Rachellelogram](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rachellelogram/32/8689_2.png) [@Rachellelogram](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rachellelogram)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2010, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-for-a-person-to-never-fart/559447/38 "2010-11-12T04:05:13Z")
This reminds me of a story. I was actually dating a guy (lasted all of 2 weeks) who DEMANDED I never fart in front of him. I laughed in his face and dumped his ass. He had a pretty severe madonna/whore complex and apparently “real women don’t fart” (or cuss or play computer games… hurrr). Anyway, to address the OP, it is certainly possible to hold in one’s farts while conscious or not pooping. But when pooping and sleeping, one’s voluntary sphincter control goes away. ---
**Author:** ![medstar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f07891/32.png) [@medstar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/medstar)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2010, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-for-a-person-to-never-fart/559447/39 "2010-11-13T00:34:02Z")
I gotta tell everyone here that past the age of fifty, I can’t really hold my farts in–so far, I’ve only let loose while I’m by myself. I’m dreading the day I’m putting my groceries in my car and let out a four alarm fart while a group of people pass by. There’s no way I can blame that one on the dog! ---
**Author:** ![Minnie\_Luna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4bbf92/32.png) [@Minnie\_Luna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Minnie_Luna)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2010, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-for-a-person-to-never-fart/559447/40 "2010-11-13T00:45:53Z")
> [@Ionizer](#): > > Just an example of what ‘retained gas’ can do to ya: I had a patient come through X-ray once with extreme shortness-of-breath and she was panting/gasping just to keep from going blue(r), trust me. She’d had some type of minor rectal surgery a week or so before, but all was well to that point. She did not tell anyone she had not pooped and/or farted since surgery, of course. She literally looked pregnant - I was first one to actually lay eyes on her at hospital, fwiw, in defense of the Doc saying it was an asthma attack, hence the Chest film). > > I took the PA Chest film and looked at it, and her colon (whole thing) was HUGE - displaced most everything in her belly and pushed her diaphragm/lungs upwards to point where she could not really inhale. Doc said the depressurization, through a little barium-enema tip inserted ‘manually’, took a looooong time. Stunk up quite a bit of first-floor of that side of hospital, too. I just can’t imagine the pSi present in that colon. > > If you did not fart, at some point, it’d get problematic (probably) 🙂 This post combined with the user name is priceless. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-for-a-person-to-never-fart/559447.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-for-a-person-to-never-fart/559447.md?page=3)