Australia launches 'Chart Your Fart' campaign with free app to study flatulence patterns

Australia launched the 'Chart Your Fart' campaign to encourage the population to record their flatulence through a free app, with the goal of studying intestinal health and creating a pattern of flatulence habits. The initiative, spearheaded by the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), seeks to create a chart of what is considered a 'normal' gas expulsion among different groups of Australians, focusing on factors such as age and lifestyle.

The Guardian, La Razon, Die Zeit, and HuffPost reported about the initiative, among others. 

Through the 'Chart Your Fart' campaign, CSIRO researchers have invited people over 14 years old to keep a record of their flatulence in a free mobile app for at least three days. The app aims to capture data on frequency, stench, loudness, duration, and how long the gas lingers in the air. Participants are asked to track the quantity and quality of their flatulence, including characteristics such as odor, volume, duration, persistence, and detectability on a sliding scale.

Megan Rebuli, a nutrition expert participating in the CSIRO research, explained, "Gas expulsion is a natural fact and a sign that our digestive system is functioning as it should to expel the excess gas produced when breaking down and processing the foods we eat." 

. She added, "Passing wind is a natural occurrence and a sign that our digestive system is working as it should." 

The study aims to determine the extent to which excessive flatulence affects intestinal health. According to a 2021 CSIRO study on intestinal health, more than 60% of Australians reported experiencing what they identified as excessive flatulence. The same study found that more than 40% of Australians experienced excessive flatulence most days. Megan Rebuli stated that the average person passes gas between seven and twenty times a day.

Experts point out that the variation in the characteristics of flatulence can be due to factors such as diet, medical conditions, or the way a person chews or swallows, which can influence the production of gas. "It's really variable depending on the types of food that you eat, how much fibre you eat and how much you're moving around," Rebuli said. She noted that factors like diet and lifestyle significantly affect the smell, frequency, and even the loudness of farts.

Megan Rebuli emphasized the importance of understanding what is normal. "This is the big question - what is normal? We really want to get some good quality, comprehensive data to try to pin down that number," she said. She explained that flatulence occurs when our bodies expel excess gas produced from breaking down and processing food, and it is a natural sign of a functioning digestive system.

Participants in the study are encouraged to provide detailed information through the app. "When you go into the app you can click record and then there are five characteristics that will appear ... We've got stench, loudness, duration, linger and detectability on a sliding scale," Rebuli said. The data collected will help create a profile of what may be considered a "normal" fart among different age groups and contribute to a local database for researchers.

Hydrogen sulphide, produced by bacteria in the gut breaking down and fermenting a broad range of foods during digestion, is one of the gases that cause strong smells in flatulence. Rebuli noted that hydrogen sulphide could also be an indicator that something is wrong. "If it's a sudden onset of something, a particularly strong smell, or if it's quite different, that could be a sign that there's something else going on, perhaps an infection or some kind of intolerance," she said.

Rebuli stressed that a person's gut health is an important indicator of their overall health. "People often complain about excess flatulence or feeling bloated and what we want to know is what is normal and what should people expect, and when things go different what would that look like?" she said.

This article was written in collaboration with generative AI company Alchemiq