Page 23 - Science Focus (issue 15)

“Flatus” refers to the excess gas
in the intestine, and the act of

releasing said gas is called “flatulence”,
also known conventionally as farting.
I know many people laugh immediately

when speaking about this topic,
but we actually know very little about it,

especially the health warnings it may contain.
There are many folklores about farts that are
not scientifically accurate.

Let us break down the myths one by one!

Myths and

Facts about

Farts 屁

的 迷 思

By Eunice Lam 林杏妍

「腸胃氣（flatus）」是指由腸胃產生的

多餘氣體，而把這些氣體釋放的自然生理反

應被稱為「flatulence」，亦即是
我們俗稱的「farting（放屁）」。

相信很多人談及這個話題時都會情不自禁地

竊笑，但是我們真的認識屁嗎？
其實不然，有時我們甚至會

忽略了它所帶來的健康警號。

References 參考資料： 讓我們一起分析
[1] Huang, A. L., Chen, X., Hoon, M. A., Chandrashekar, J., Guo, W., Tränkner, D., . . . Zuker, C. S. (2006). The cells and logic for mammalian
各種關於屁的
sour taste detection. Nature, 442(7105), 934-938. doi:10.1038/nature05084
[2] Sato, K., Endo, S., & Tomita, H. (n.d.). Sensitivity of three loci on the tongue and soft palate to four basic tastes in smokers and non-
「都市傳說」吧！
smokers. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12132625?ordinalpos=1&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_
ResultsPanel.Pubmed_DefaultReportPanel.Pubmed_RVDocSum
[3] How does our sense of taste work? (2016, August 17). Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0072592/
[4] Morris, M. J., Na, E. S., & Johnson, A. K. (2008, August 06). Salt craving: The psychobiology of pathogenic sodium intake. Retrieved from
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2491403/
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