As if there wasn't enough to worry about when we have to make a first impression, the butterflies in our stomach can sometimes brew something unpleasant down under.
Yes, it often seems that those times when farting would cause the most embarrassment are also the moments when our bodies pressure us to do it the most.
But as desperately as we may want to hold the gas in, it's unfortunately not quite that simple.
As Lisa Ganjhu from the NYU Langone Medical Center told Women's Health, farting is just a natural part of digesting food.
As food and bacteria ferment in the stomach, these leads to some increased acidity, as well as a buildup of gas.
Ganjhu said this happens 10 to 20 times a day and we often don't realize when we're doing it.
This is why holding in our farts generally doesn't work out. Although we might be able to do this when we're focused on it, that gas is likely coming out when we relax and especially when we're walking.
As Clare Collins — a professor of nutrition and dietetics at the University of Newcastle — told Vice, this happens when fart gas crosses what's called the bowel wall into our blood vessels.
If we've been persistently holding in a fart, the blood will also drop off those runaway gases along with the carbon dioxide.
Unfortunately, as Collins told Vice, this will smell a lot like a normal fart.
So as embarrassing as it can be to fart, this fart breath is probably worse for most people.
Collins said research is still inconclusive as to whether it doesn't effect our digestive health or whether it can make a condition called diverticulitis worse.
This refers to pockets in the gut wall that develop when the colon is under pressure. They can become inflamed or infected.
As Collins told Vice, the amount of gas and the strength of the buttocks and sphincter muscles can make a difference.
However, it is known that we fart more on airplanes because of the way gases expand when they're maintaining cabin pressure.
It might also be helpful to know that high-fiber diets don't necessarily lead to more farts, but rather fewer, yet larger ones.
Also, Ganjhu told Women's Health that foods like broccoli and asparagus can lead to more gas because they're harder to digest.
Probiotic foods like yogurt, kimchi, and sauerkraut, however, might be able to reduce farting by making gut bacteria more aligned.
