Do Men Or Women Fart More Often? This Study Provides An Answer

A study showed that while men on average farted slightly more often than women, there was significant overlap in the results. In other words, any given man could fart more or less frequently than any given woman. (Photo: Getty)

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You’ve probably caught wind of debates over whether men or women fart more often. Well, a study published in JAMA Network Open did go “Down Under” in more ways than one to provide an answer.

For the study, Emily Brindal, PhD and Danielle Baird, BNutDiet(Hons) of the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, Kaurna Land, in Adelaide, Australia, recruited 3015 men and 3255 in Australia—otherwise known as the "Land Down Under." The study participants then wore devices inserted down under—otherwise known as into the anus in this case—to track gaseous activity and used a smartphone-based app named “Chart Your Fart” to do exactly that for on average 10 days. That resulted in 360, 192 “outputs.”

The Fart Counts From This Study Seemed Low Compared To Previous Studies

On average, study participants had five recorded farts per day. Both the standard deviation and the median were 3.8. That meant half the participants had more than 3.8 recorded farts a day and half less. Over three-quarters of the participants (79.3 percent) had between two and seven recorded farts per day. To those who had less than two recorded farts a day, either congratulations or tell us exactly how you cheated.

These numbers did seem to “air” on the low side, though. In previous studies, people self-reported much higher 10-to-20-farts-per-day numbers. And you can imagine that people may not be self-reporting all of their farts based on the saying, "He who denied it supplied it." In fact, a recent study using “Smart Underwear” to record farts found even higher rates—people farting on average 32 times a day, as I detailed in Forbes this past February.

Men On Average Farted Slightly More Often Than Women

Nevertheless, you are probably still waiting for the big release from this study: namely who has more recorded farts per day, men or women. Well, rolling fart please, here’s what the study found. On average, men had more recorded farts a day at 5.2 than women at 4.8. Although, that’s less than half a toot. Plus, the standard deviations for this daily average was 3.9 recorded farts for men and 3.6 recorded farts for women. So lots of overlap. The difference between the median for men (4.0) and the median for women (3.8) was even smaller, just a fifth of a toot. Three-quarters of the men had 2.5 to 6.5 recorded farts a day whereas three-quarters of the women had 2.0 to 6.0.

Again, these were just the recorded farts, which may not have represented all of the farts. It’s not quite clear how many farts may have occurred off the record, so to speak. As you surely know, farts come in many different forms and sizes. And you’ve got to wonder how much of the various types of farting eventually made the charting.

The Peak Farting Time Seemed To Be Between 6 PM and 10 PM

The study did let out another set of observations—namely when during the day farts were more likely to occur. The frequency of recorded farts tended to vary throughout the day with the biggest peak occurring in the 6 pm and 10 pm range. That isn’t super surprising since it’s the after-dinner window for most people. And dinner is probably when you eat the most flatulence-inducing food like that three-bean chili loaded with onions and garlic.

There Didn’t Seem To Be A Big Difference Between Men And Women When It Comes To Farting Frequency

The bottom line from this study, though, is that there wasn’t really a huge difference between men and women when it came to farting frequency. Sure, there was that less-than-half-a-toot difference in the averages. And only a fifth-of-a-toot difference in the medians. But with so much overlap in the ranges, any given man may fart more or less frequently than any given woman. Therefore, when battling with someone from the opposite sex over who let the dogs out, remember there can ultimately be quite a lot of fart equity. In other words, don’t assume which sex let out the thunder from down under.