Why flying makes you flatulent, how to reduce it – and whether just letting go is OK

Eating unhealthy food before getting on an aeroplane is far from the only thing that will have you feeling flatulent during your flight. And in extreme cases, holding it in could lead to rises in blood pressure and heart rate

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Don’t worry, an increase in flatulence on planes is completely normal – but you can take steps to limit other passengers’ exposure. Photo: Alamy

Published: 7:00pm, 11 Jan 2018Updated: 10:43am, 5 Feb 2020

Flying can affect our bodies in different ways. Delays can cause stress; changes in air pressure wreak havoc with our ears while sucking moisture from our body and leaving the mouth desert dry; and the increased risk of blood clots forming in veins (deep-vein thrombosis) for some long-distance travellers has been widely discussed.

Less talked about, however, is an increase in flatulence and bloating.

Researchers believe their findings demonstrate link between deep-vein thrombosis and long-haul flights

So curious was Danish surgeon Jacob Rosenberg about in-flight flatulence that he and his University of Copenhagen colleagues wrote a paper on it for The New Zealand Medical Journal. Rosenberg says his “light bulb” moment was triggered by a plastic bottle.

“I watched a bottle shrink on a descent and it gave me the idea,” says Rosenberg by email. “Several times while flying I noticed that my belly increased in size and sometimes with extensive air passage.”

Rosenberg says the reason this happens is simple. “When cabin pressure decreases, the natural air inside the bowel will expand. And since there is only limited space in the large bowel, it is a natural consequence to fart.”

Two photos of the same bottle show how the air pressure inside an aeroplane changed from about 11,000 feet in the air to the ground. Photo: Alamy

The paper states that the average human produces between 0.7 litres and 1 litre (24 and 34 US fluid ounces) of intestinal gas a day, and passes gas about 10 times daily. It also states that studies have not proven that men produce more flatus than women or that younger people pass wind more than older people. Good to know flatulence does not discriminate.