When it comes to shedding extra kilos, there is no dearth of advice on the internet.


Now and then you can come across a new trend promising miraculous weight loss results without any substantial evidence.

As most people struggle with maintaining a healthy weight, they often fall for these fads only to gain disappointment in the end.

One such trend that broke the internet a few years ago was if farting can help to lose weight.

​The myth around farting and weight loss

As per the news going around the internet, farting can burn 67 calories at one time. That means if you fart 52 times a day, you would probably burn 500 grams of weight in a day. Sounds interesting, right? But if you are giving even the slightest bit of thought to trying this, we would suggest you against it. The popular claim that farting helps to burn calories has absolutely no merit. As per science, farting is a passive activity and does not help you burn any amount of calories.

Understanding the concept of farting

Farts or farting is referred to as the process of passing excess intestinal gas. When there is excessive gas in your stomach or intestine it can cause bloating or flatus. The gas leaves your body through your anus and the process is known as farting. Farts can contain small amounts of sulfur, which is why they can be smelly. Studies suggest that the average person passes about 200 millilitres of gas per day through 10 or 20 farts.

What leads to farting?

You can fart after swallowing a lot of air when eating or if you have eaten gassy food. It can also be due to bacteria build-up in your colon that is constantly working to break down food. When the gas formed by the bacteria does not pass from the intestine through burping, it moves out by farting. When a person farts the intestine muscle relaxes and the pressure in your gut pushes the gas out without effort. It is a passive process, which cannot help you burn calories. One can only burn calories when you strain when farting. But doing so would only help you burn a negligible amount of fat, which won’t make any difference on your weight. Besides, forced farting is not a healthy or normal thing to do.