"Chart Your Fart"

Excessive flatulence: Australia gets fart app

(Bild: sek1111 - stock.adobe.com)

After a study in 2021 concluded that 60 percent of Australians suffer from excessive flatulence, the leading public science organization CSIRO has now launched its own fart app.

Accurately documenting users' bowel movements will help researchers establish a pattern of Australians' flatulence, according to a statement on Friday.

"This got us thinking: what is a 'normal' number of farts per day?" the government agency said. The "Chart Your Fart" app was developed to better understand Australians' farting patterns and advance health and wellbeing research, it said. "Essentially, we want to learn about your farting habits. We're looking for Australians aged 14 and over to provide us with three days of flatulence data (including one weekend day)," CSIRO (Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization) wrote.

We all fart! Some more than others! Some louder than others! Some stink more than others! And some are funnier than others!

Wissenschaftsorganisation CSIRO

Removing the taboos from the subject
To remove people's inhibitions about the often embarrassing subject, the authority emphasized with a wink: "We all fart! Some more than others! Some louder than others! Some stink more than others! And some are funnier than others!"

And how does the app work? Among other things, users can record the frequency of their farts as well as their characteristics such as smell, volume, duration and lingering in the air. This should help scientists to create a profile of a "normal" fart in different age groups.

A sign of good digestion
Farts in themselves are a completely natural phenomenon and a sign that the digestive system is functioning well, explained CSIRO expert Megan Rebuli. It is simply the expulsion of excess gas produced during the breaking down and processing of food. However, factors such as different foods, illnesses or even the way people chew or swallow have an influence on how the body processes the excess gas. This has a significant effect on the smell, the frequency and even the volume.