Flatulence phobia inhibits healthy diet

WASHINGTON, Aug 19, 2005 (United Press International via COMTEX) -- Kids come up with all kinds of excuses not to eat their vegetables, but the American Institute of Cancer Research is working to debunk an excuse used by many adults: that eating vegetables will cause flatulence.

The AICR revised its "New American Plate" brochure, which graphically demonstrates healthy foods and portions, in December 2004. According to its recommendations, two-thirds of one's plate at mealtime should be plant foods -- fruits, vegetables, whole grains, beans, nuts and seeds. Meat and dairy products comprise the remaining one-third.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's 2000 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System data, only 23.1 percent of Americans eat at least five servings of fruits and vegetables per day. The National 5 A Day Partnership, which includes the Produce for Better Health Foundation and the National Cancer Institute, recommends consumption of at least five servings per day of fruits and vegetables to help prevent cancer.

Thousands of phytochemicals, distinct from vitamins and minerals, are found only in plant foods and provide various anti-cancer effects. Some of these are antioxidants, which slow the rate of cell-destroying chemical reactions, and other phytochemicals contain enzymes that block or deactivate carcinogens. There are even phytochemicals that cause cancer cells to self-destruct.

"We really need this wide variety instead of getting one serving of the 'perfect' fruit or vegetable," AICR nutrition adviser Karen Collins, a registered dietitian, told United Press International. She noted that, according to a survey of Americans' food intake, potatoes account for a third of the vegetables Americans eat, frequently in the form of french fries.

"Of the huge range of fruits and vegetables, there's no way one should occupy a third of our intake," Collins said.

In "The New American Plate Cookbook," AICR concentrated on breaking two well-known barriers to vegetable consumption: the idea that healthy food is bland and tasteless, and the idea that healthy food takes too long to prepare. While promoting the book, AICR representatives found a third barrier: the fear of vegetable-induced flatulence.

"We go out and do presentations to consumers, and it comes up time after time," Collins said. "Most people, one on one, don't want to talk about that ... but it's definitely there."

This phobia even affects people who have never personally experienced vegetable-induced flatulence.

"Some people just avoid (vegetables) because they're afraid they'll have a problem," Collins said.

The phobia does have some basis in fact. When food is eaten, enzymes in the small intestine break it down, separating nutrients from waste. Some carbohydrates found in beans and other fiber-rich plants are not easily broken down by enzymes and travel undigested into the large intestine. There, bacteria feed upon the carbohydrates, fermenting them and producing smelly hydrogen sulfide in the process.

Thus, when someone goes from eating no vegetables to eating massive quantities of vegetables, it is likely that he or she will experience the feared flatulence. With proper techniques, though, it is possible to eat vegetables without producing excess gas.

A more prudent approach is to increase one's vegetable consumption gradually, giving the digestive system more time to adapt. Even notorious problem foods like beans can be tolerated given the proper introduction; Collins pointed out that in some cultures beans are eaten every day.

"If you make it a more consistent part of your diet and work into it gradually, you may do just fine," Collins said.

Collins said that while gas can affect anyone, she hears the complaint most commonly from older people. She said the secretion of digestive juices decreases with age and that older people tend to be less active and drink less fluid than they should. Inactivity and dehydration inhibit the movement of food waste through the intestines.

"The longer it sits there, the more chance there is for the bacteria to act on it, ferment it and produce more gas," Collins said.

Collins said some people find cooked vegetables easier to tolerate than raw vegetables because the cooking process breaks down the cell walls of carbohydrates, leaving less work for digestive enzymes. She added that some people find enzyme tablets or drops taken with meals, such as Beano, to be helpful.

"We know it's on their minds, so let's talk about it and get past it," Collins said. "People are letting that fear keep them from something we know can make a huge difference in cancer risk."