Farting between 14 and 23 times a day is completely normal. If you feel like you’re passing gas constantly, you might actually be within that range and just noticing it more, or you could be on the high end due to diet, eating habits, or how your gut processes certain foods. The good news: most causes of excessive gas are harmless and fixable.
Where All That Gas Comes From
Your body produces intestinal gas in two ways. The first is swallowed air. Every time you eat, drink, or swallow saliva, small amounts of air travel down into your digestive tract. Most of it comes back up as a burp, but whatever makes it past your stomach continues through your intestines and eventually comes out the other end.
The second, larger source is fermentation. Your large intestine is home to trillions of bacteria that break down the carbohydrates your small intestine couldn’t fully digest. That breakdown process releases gases, primarily hydrogen and carbon dioxide. Some people’s gut bacteria also produce methane, which depends on whether they carry a specific type of microbe called Methanobacteria. The particular mix of bacteria in your gut helps explain why two people can eat the same meal and end up with very different amounts of gas.
Foods That Produce the Most Gas
Certain carbohydrates are especially prone to fermentation because your small intestine lacks the enzymes to break them down completely. These include a group of short-chain carbohydrates sometimes called FODMAPs, found in a wide range of everyday foods: beans, lentils, onions, garlic, wheat, apples, pears, and many cruciferous vegetables like broccoli and cabbage. Different people are sensitive to different ones, which is why your friend can eat a bowl of lentil soup without issue while it leaves you bloated for hours.
Fiber-rich foods are another common culprit. Fiber is healthy for your gut in the long run, but when you suddenly increase your intake (switching to a high-fiber cereal, adding more vegetables, starting a plant-based diet), your gut bacteria ramp up fermentation before your system adjusts. This usually settles down after a few weeks if you increase fiber gradually.
Carbonated drinks add gas directly. The carbon dioxide in sparkling water, soda, and beer has to go somewhere once it reaches your gut.
Eating Habits That Add Up
How you eat matters almost as much as what you eat. Swallowing excess air, called aerophagia, is one of the most overlooked causes of frequent gas. Eating too fast, talking while eating, chewing gum, sucking on hard candy, and drinking through straws all force extra air into your digestive tract. Smoking does the same thing.
Eating on the go compounds the problem. When you eat standing up or while rushing, you tend to chew less and swallow more air with each bite. Sitting down, eating slowly, and chewing thoroughly are simple changes that can make a noticeable difference. Switching to smaller, more frequent meals instead of large ones also gives your gut less to ferment at once, which reduces the volume of gas produced after eating.
Food Intolerances You Might Not Know About
If your gas feels disproportionate to what you’re eating, a food intolerance could be involved. Lactose intolerance is one of the most common. Your small intestine normally produces an enzyme that breaks down the sugar in milk and dairy products. If you don’t produce enough of that enzyme, the undigested milk sugar passes into your colon, where bacteria ferment it and produce gas. This affects a large percentage of adults worldwide, and the severity varies. Some people can handle a splash of milk in coffee but not a bowl of ice cream.
Fructose, the sugar found naturally in fruit and added to many processed foods as high-fructose corn syrup, can cause similar problems when your gut can’t absorb it efficiently. If you notice more gas after eating fruit, honey, or sweetened drinks, fructose malabsorption is worth considering.
When Gas Signals Something Deeper
In most cases, frequent gas is a nuisance, not a medical problem. But a few patterns are worth paying attention to. A condition called small intestinal bacterial overgrowth, or SIBO, happens when bacteria that normally live in the large intestine colonize the small intestine instead. Food that should be absorbed in the small intestine gets fermented too early, producing excess gas along with bloating, diarrhea, and sometimes nutrient deficiencies.
Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is another possibility, particularly if gas comes alongside irregular bowel habits, cramping, or abdominal discomfort that improves after a bowel movement. Celiac disease, an immune reaction to gluten, can also cause persistent gas and bloating.
Pay attention if your gas symptoms change suddenly, come with abdominal pain, or are accompanied by unexplained weight loss, persistent diarrhea, or constipation. Those combinations are worth bringing to a doctor rather than managing on your own.
What Actually Helps Reduce Gas
Start with the basics. Cut back on the foods most likely to cause fermentation (beans, cruciferous vegetables, onions, garlic) and reintroduce them one at a time to identify your personal triggers. If you suspect dairy, try eliminating it for two weeks and see if things improve. Slow down when you eat, skip the gum, and avoid carbonated drinks for a while.
Over-the-counter options are a mixed bag. Products containing alpha-galactosidase (sold as Beano) genuinely help. They supply the enzyme your body needs to break down the fermentable carbohydrates in beans, bran, and certain fruits before bacteria get to them. Taking it with the first bite of a problem food is key.
Simethicone, the active ingredient in Gas-X, is widely recommended but has not been shown to reduce normal flatulence in studies. It works by breaking up gas bubbles in the stomach, which may help with bloating or belching but doesn’t address gas produced by fermentation in the colon.
If odor is your main concern rather than frequency, activated charcoal underwear liners absorb 55 to 77 percent of the sulfur compounds responsible for the smell. Charcoal briefs absorb nearly 100 percent. Oral activated charcoal supplements, on the other hand, have inconsistent evidence and aren’t well supported.
The Adjustment Period Is Real
If you’ve recently changed your diet, started a new medication, or begun taking a fiber supplement, give your body two to four weeks to adapt. Your gut bacteria need time to shift their population in response to new substrates. During that transition, gas production often spikes before it settles. Increasing fiber by small amounts every few days rather than all at once helps your microbiome catch up without overwhelming it. For most people, the excess gas is temporary and resolves once your digestive system finds its new equilibrium.