I fart too much

I am a married lady of 40 years old. I recently moved with my husband to another part of the country where I had to make a few changes in our diet due to the absence of some of our usual ingredients.  Since then, I noticed that I fart a lot. Even though the fart is not that smelly, the accompanying noise is embarrassing. Could this be due to the recent change of diet since my husband who eats the same food with me does not fart that much?

Amina (by SMS)

Whether they’re loud or silent, stinky, or odourless, everyone farts.  The average person farts anywhere from 5 to 15 times per day. Farting is a normal part of digestion that reflects the activity of the bacteria in your gut. You might also notice that you fart more when you eat certain foods that are more difficult to digest, such as beans or raw vegetables. While farting every day is normal, farting all the time is not. Excessive farting, also called flatulence, can make you feel uncomfortable and self-conscious. It might also be a sign of a health problem. You have excessive flatulence if you fart more than 20 times per day. As you suggested, the change of diet could be responsible since some species of yoghurt, beans, melons, groundnuts as well as fats and oils have been incriminated with excessive farting. The fact that your husband is not as affected as you are could be due to the simple reason that both of you can react differently to the same diets. However, if after adjusting your diet the farting is still excessive, you may need to see your doctor who will carry out some tests on you including a stool examination in order to unravel the mystery.