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http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_..._v21/ai_4790738 Quote:The most common cause of intestinalgas is swallowing air. Indeed, most of the gas inside us is composed of oxygen and nitrogen. Swallowing air is hard to avoid--a little goes down with each mouthful of food. Eating too fast can increase air intake. Ill-fitting dentures and chewing gum are other sources of air swallowing.Other intestinal gasses include hydrogen,carbon dioxide and methane. They are produced in the large intestine when undigested food is fermented by bacteria that live in the colon. This is known as colonic fermentation.Those five gasses are odorless andconstitute about 99 percent of all intestinal gas. The foul odor associated with flatus comes from trace amounts of other gasses that result from the fermentation process. Some of these trace gasses can be detected by smell in concentrations as low as one part per 100 million.The amount of gas a person takesin and produces varies from individual to individual (from about 400 to 2,400 cubic centimeters a day). The amounts differ because people are different: Some swallow more air than others, and some produce more gas than others. (Methane production, for example, seems to run in families, with only about 30 percent of the population producing it.)However, it may not be the amountof gas that causes stomach and social discomfort but the movement of the gas. Researchers have found that the complaint of "too much gas" often results from slow transit time through the digestive tract, rather than excessive volume.The gas eruptions also vary from individualto individual. People who swallow more air and indulge in beer or soft drinks (which contain carbon dioxide) may be well-known belchers. Foods that get into the colon in an undigested state and are fermented there by bacteria result more in flatus production.There seems to be some minor disagreementover the number of daily flatus incidents that is considered normal. One publication reported 13 as average, while another said 14. It is interesting, however, that neither cited a reference.Internal production of gas is probablybest limited by diet. Lactose-intolerant people, for example, need to avoid milk and most milk products in order to escape discomfort and embarassment. (See "Sweet Milk and Sour Stomachs" in the March 1984 FDA Consumer.) In one study, the number of flatus episodes in one lactose-intolerant individual increased from 34 to 141 a day with a pure milk diet. The accompanying box lists other foods that get the bacteria working in the colon. Of course, beans head the list.The two Navy researchers, Dr. MichaelM. Van Ness and Dr. Edward L. Cattau Jr., of the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Md., in their American Family Physician article, reveiwed other methods of controlling gas output, including use of antibiotics and other drugs. They concluded that "the treatment of the patient with excessive flatulence remains a challenge." However, they added that "diet modification ... is prudent and worth a therapeutic trial.The first time an advisory panel ofexperts reviewed anti-gas products for FDA was in 1973. It concluded that there weren't enough studies to prove any drug ingredient both safe and effective.FDA disagreed with its panel, concludingthat one ingredient--simethicone--was safe and effective for relief of flatulence and gas.Yet, a subsequent report by anotherpanel of experts--the one issued in 1982--again found that no ingredient had been proven safe and effective in treating gas and flatulence. The panel called for more study on the following ingredients: cellulase and hemicellulase, charcoal, homatropine methylbromide, magnesium hydroxide, pancreatin and pancrelipase, simethicone, sodium bicarbonate, and sodium citrate.However, the agency has yet to respondto the 1982 report. It remains to be seen if the agency, when it does respond, will stay with its position that simethicone is safe and effective.FDA is to determine whether thatlatest panel report will change its previous viewpoint about simethicone.One expert who doubts the value ofsimethicone is the author of the NIH fact sheet on gas, Dr. Harris R. Clearfield, professor of medicine at Hahnemann Medical College and Hospital in Philadelphia. He says simethicone "has an anti-gas effect in test tubes ... [but] does not seem to relieve the symptoms of gas in most people."The digestive aids panel did throwout a number of ingredients as generally safe, but not effective. These ingredients included such folk remedies as ox bile, dehydrated garlic, and blessed thistle plant, plus the roots and lower stems of golden seal.Relieving gas in a socially acceptablemanner may remain elusive to many people. To them, the best advice seems: Watch your diet, eat more slowly, chew your food well, and relax, since some researchers believe that stress may contribute to that gassy feeling.COPYRIGHT 1987 U.S. Government Printing OfficeCOPYRIGHT 2004 Gale Group
from about 400 to 2,400 cubic centimeters a day)
