Boomers, Science Has Good News About Your Farting Habits – Health Digest

Since time immemorial, the act of passing gas has been regarded as a humorous subject. Even Benjamin Franklin once proposed finding a way to make farts smell like perfume in a lighthearted letter. Aside from being a normal occurrence, farts can tell you a lot about your health; in fact, not being able to fart could be a dangerous warning sign. That said, while increased farting tends to be associated with seniors, new research has shed some surprising light on which generations actually pass gas most often.

A 2026 study in JAMA Network Open examined the flatulence frequency among 6,416 Australian participants from different age groups. Each participant used a mobile app to note when flatulence events happened. Here’s the shocker: Data proved that participants age 66 and older didn’t enter the most farts. Instead, respondents age 26 to 45 recorded an average of 5.2 flatulence incidents each day. The runner-up group members were participants who were between 46 and 65 years of age, with 5.0 incidents daily. In comparison, people 66 and older had just 4.8 daily incidents, and those between 14 and 25 only had 4.4 events. According to these self-reported results, millennials and Gen Xers fart more frequently than baby boomers.

It’s worth mentioning that the notion that seniors pass more gas isn’t completely without merit. Aside from the fact that our digestive systems can become more sensitive as we grow older, the muscles around the anus may also become looser, making it harder to hold in a fart. Plus, certain medications can affect the buildup of gas inside the body, worsening flatulence. As a result, a typical senior who hasn’t made any dietary changes might still experience increased flatulence.

The aforementioned JAMA Network Open isn’t the first attempt in recent years to measure flatulence in the general population. In a 2025 paper in Biosensors and Bioelectronics, experts used “smart underwear” to monitor the farting habits of 19 participants and gain a better understanding of why excessive flatulence happens. Speaking with USA Today, study co-author Brantley Hall said that the underwear will be used as part of a larger study involving thousands of volunteer participants. As he explained, “It turns out people are, like, extremely interested and want to know whether they’re farting a normal amount.”