BIOLOGY BASICS

WHY do our bodies do that? This week: Break wind STUDIES suggest that the average person breaks wind between five and 15 times a day, according to NHS experts, producing around 0.6 to 1.8 litres of intestinal gas.

Most of this is air we swallow as we eat and drink — a mixture of oxygen, nitrogen and carbon dioxide — while a small amount is the gas made by bacteria in the colon as it breaks down food. Less than 1 per cent of this gas has an odour.

‘Each person’s bacteria are different and produce different amounts of gas depending on the food that enters,’ says Dr Adam Taylor, a senior lecturer in anatomy at Lancaster University.