Your article:
http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1_079.html
fails to answer the original querant’s question of whether it is safer to “vent” than to “squelch”.
Some claim that “holding it in” can lead to diverticulosis (pouches in the wall of the bowel), and eventual diverticulitis; but what does the evidence really say, about this?
Surely^H^H^H^H^H^HCertainly someone has studied this! (See, I didn’t call you Shirley!)
–
egr
shirley said
Since you seem to have some knowledge of this subject, could you post a source? Who “claims” this? Link? Names? Cites?
Just read the “straight dope” on farting - especially the gases listed. Are you kidding? The “bottom burps” that everyone remembers purely for stench MUST contain copious amounts of hydrogen sulfide - “rotten egg gas” for the uneducated.
My friend Laurie, who must be considered a contender for the title “fart champion of the known universe”, has frequently been asked NOT to eat eggs as a result! Comments, please?
Some, probably, but you don’t need “copious amounts” of H[sub]2[/sub]S to make a big stink. Unfortunately, that’s one compound to which the human nose is extremely sensitive.
More info on farts.
Cecil also wrote:
"From this we may deduce that burps and belches, which emanate from the stomach, consist mostly of air. "
I was under the impression that “burps” and “belches” were different words for exactly the same thing, but Cece seems to make a distinction between them as if they were two different emanations…not true?
-Midgard
Cecil did answer the question about whether holding it in is bad for one’s health in this other column: