Farting, trumping, breaking wind, or dropping your hat — whatever you call it, most people release rectal gas far more often than they admit, and the frequency increases with age. Doctors have long estimated that healthy adults fart between five and 15 times a day, but new research suggests the real figure is significantly higher.
New Study Reveals Higher Average
Researchers at the University of Maryland found that healthy adults passed gas an average of 32 times per day during testing. Some participants emitted as few as four daily farts, while others reached 59. Previous estimates were lower because studies relied on self-reporting or small groups, both of which have obvious flaws — people rarely log every fart accurately.
Why We Fart
Flatulence is a normal part of digestion. Gut bacteria break down food through fermentation, producing gases like hydrogen, methane, and carbon dioxide. Some gas also enters the body when eating, drinking, or swallowing saliva, which usually exits as burping. Diet, gut bacteria, and general health cause huge variation in gas production. High-fiber foods like whole grains, beans, lentils, broccoli, cauliflower, and cabbage are notorious for encouraging flatulence.
Age and Flatulence
Age affects flatulence frequency. Metabolism and digestion slow down, so food moves more slowly through the digestive tract, allowing gas to build up. Changes in stomach acid production can make certain foods harder to digest. People may become more sensitive to foods they once ate without issue, leading to digestive problems after meals. Medications and conditions like irritable bowel syndrome also contribute. Muscle tone around the digestive tract and anus weakens with age, making it harder to hold in gas.
The Human Flatus Atlas
There is little agreement on what counts as normal flatulence. Brantley Hall, assistant professor at the University of Maryland, said: 'We don’t actually know what normal flatus production looks like. Without that baseline, it’s hard to know when someone’s gas production is truly excessive.' Scientists are launching the Human Flatus Atlas, a project to measure farting patterns in hundreds of adults across the US. The goal is to understand how much gas healthy people produce and how diet and gut bacteria influence it. This could help doctors better understand digestive disorders.
When to Worry
The smell comes from sulfur-containing compounds. Most of the time, farting is normal. However, sudden changes with persistent bloating, pain, diarrhea, unexplained weight loss, or appetite changes may signal conditions like celiac disease, inflammatory bowel disease, or small intestinal bacterial overgrowth. But for most people, farting is just part of being human.
