RESEARCHERS at the University of Maryland have developed “Smart Underwear”, described as the first wearable device designed to measure human flatulence and study gut activity during everyday life.
The small sensor tracks hydrogen in flatus, allowing scientists to revisit long-held assumptions about how often people pass gas while offering a new window into gut microbial metabolism.
Advertisement
For years, doctors have had limited tools to evaluate patients who complain about intestinal gas.
Gastroenterologist Michael Levitt, widely known in the field as the “King of Farts”, highlighted the challenge in 2000 when he wrote that it was “virtually impossible for the physician to objectively document the existence of excessive gas using currently available tests”.
To tackle this, a research group led by Brantley Hall, assistant professor in the Department of Cell Biology and Molecular Genetics at the University of Maryland, created a compact device that clips discreetly onto regular underwear.
The device contains electrochemical sensors designed to monitor intestinal gas production continuously throughout the day and night.
In research published in Biosensors and Bioelectronics: X, a study led by assistant research scientist Santiago Botasini used the device to measure flatulence in healthy adults.
Participants produced flatus an average of 32 times a day, about twice the 14 (±6) daily events often cited in earlier medical literature, although totals varied widely between four and 59 events.
Researchers are now recruiting volunteers in several categories identified during early research, including “Zen Digesters”, who eat high-fibre diets of 25 to 38 grams daily but produce very little flatus, “Hydrogen Hyperproducers” who pass gas frequently, and “Normal People” who fall between the two.
The team will also collect stool samples from Zen Digesters and Hydrogen Hyperproducers for microbiome analysis, with Hall saying the planned “Human Flatus Atlas” aims to establish objective baselines for gut microbial fermentation and help researchers understand how diet, probiotics and prebiotics influence microbiome activity.
