what’s happening in your intestines when you get gas from eating, say, a banana?
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You eat the banana. You also ingest some air that can pass from your stomach to your intestines. It goes to the acid in your stomach that starts breaking it down. It travels onward to the small intestine where most stuff is digested. Some stuff gets missed though. Fiber, some sugars and starched, and whatnot that we can’t digest end up getting broken down by bacteria in your large intestine. The breakdown reactions form gas that is now stuck in your intestine. Some of the bacteria actually then use the gas to do other stuff, but they can only use a limited amount. So if it a lot of gas forms at a spot and there’s stuff in the way from getting it out, it just sits there trapped in your colon. Eventually the stuff will move and you’ll fart.
I’m not actually entirely sure what the pain is – I believe it is just causing a lot of pressure pushing out on your intestines and nerves there sensing the pressure change send a pain signal to your brain, but I don’t want to give you false info and there may be something else going on.
Edited to add: meant to mention you ingest gas from eating as well that can pass from stomach to intestines and basically do the same thing.
When bacteria break down sugars and starches, sometimes they generate gas.
Similarly, in bread when the yeast feeds on the starches in flour, it gives off gas that makes bubbles in the dough, and that’s why the bread rises and has small holes in it. When describing how I make bread to my friends’ young kids, I call them “yeast farts”.
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