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AnonTechie [soylentnews.org] writes:

Got Gas? It Could Mean You've Got Healthy Gut Microbes

Not long ago, we heard about a catchy idea for a cookbook: "Fart-free food for everybody." In theory, these recipes would be helpful for some people — and those in their vicinity. But being a bit gassy may actually be a small price to pay for a lot of benefits to our health. We know that air often comes after eating nutrient-packed vegetables, such as cabbage, kale and broccoli. And researchers have found that fiber-rich foods, like beans and lentils, boost the levels of beneficial gut bacteria after only a few days, as we reported in December. So all this got us wondering: Could passing gas, in some instances, be a sign that our gut microbes are busy keeping us healthy?

Absolutely, says Purna Kashyap, a gastroenterologist at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn. While no one's sure which foods are good for our microbiomes, eating more veggies can't hurt. "Eating foods that cause gas is the only way for the microbes in the gut to get nutrients," he says. "If we didn't feed them carbohydrates, it would be harder for them to live in our gut."

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2014/04/28/306544 406/got-gas-it-could-mean-you-ve-got-healthy-gut-m icrobes [npr.org]

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