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Digestive Health Digestive Health Basics

What You Need to Know About Intestinal Gas

Summary & Participants

Embarrassing, unpredictable and often uncomfortable, gas is a problem few people like to talk about. But everyone has a little gas now and then. When should you worry about having too much? Join our panel of gastroenterologists as they address this common and unpleasant problem.

Medically Reviewed On: June 18, 2008

Webcast Transcript

DAVID MARKS, MD: Hi, and welcome to our webcast. I'm Dr. David Marks. Today we're talking about gas. While it's often very embarrassing, it's a common complaint in doctors' offices. What exactly causes gas? And what can you do to get over the discomfort of gas?

Joining us today are two experts. First is Dr. Lucy Harris. She's a gastroenterologist at Cornell Medical Center. Thanks for being here.

LUCINDA HARRIS, MS, MD: Thank you.

DAVID MARKS, MD: Next to her is Dr. Mark Pochapin. He's also a gastroenterologist, and also from the same institution, Cornell Medical Center. Thanks for being here.

MARK POCHAPIN, MD: Thanks.

DAVID MARKS, MD: What's normal? What is the normal amount of gas? Everybody has it.

LUCINDA HARRIS, MS, MD: They actually have studied gas, and they studied gas originally in young, healthy males, and found that young healthy males pass gas 8-20 times day, about two to four pints of gas per day. They've actually never done these studies in women, but that's sort of been the basis of our consideration of what's normal for gas.

DAVID MARKS, MD: Why does gas occur in the first place?

MARK POCHAPIN, MD: Gas can really get into the intestine in two main ways. One, it's swallowed, and it just doesn't leave the intestine. People, after they eat a meal, may belch, and the gas can escape through the mouth. Or food itself is actually fermented by bacteria, or malabsorbed, and some of the products of malabsorption are then utilized by bacteria in the intestine, mainly in the colon, and the bacteria look at that as food to produce a lot of byproducts, and some of the byproducts are gas.

DAVID MARKS, MD: Does that mean that belching is normal?

LUCINDA HARRIS, MS, MD: Belching, to some extent, is normal phenomenon, but if someone is doing it all the time, it may be another symptom of gastroesophageal reflux disease or GERD as we sometimes call it, which is a more severe form of heartburn or indigestion.

MARK POCHAPIN, MD: Some people actually swallow more air in. In fact, some people, as a result of stress, will swallow quite a bit of air, the swallowing being something, like grinding your teeth, some people actually swallow more air when they eat, and swallow air during the day, and that might cause more bloating with gas, and belching.

LUCINDA HARRIS, MS, MD: People who smoke swallow more air.

DAVID MARKS, MD: Because they're inhaling.

LUCINDA HARRIS, MS, MD: Right. And people who chew gum also frequently do the same thing.

DAVID MARKS, MD: How does someone know when this is becoming a problem? Is it somebody else telling them that they're belching too much, or do they get symptoms of GERD?

LUCINDA HARRIS, MS, MD: They may get other symptoms of GERD, such as nausea, chest burning kind of chest pain, that occurs very frequently. But also just very frequent belching. If that's really happening a lot, then they really should talk to their doctor about it.

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