According to the JoongAng Ilbo (Korean), Koreans fart a lot. Hey, don’t blame me for this one — blame the JoongAng. Anyway, the piece said that while it might be hard to draw a hard and fast conclusion, one could guess that Koreans break wind particularly often due to the large amount of gas-producing foods they consume — beans, veggies, fruits and raw foods. The rising consumption of milk doesn’t help matters, and those with trouble digesting lactose and the elderly with weakening digestive power are particularly susceptible to becoming, in the colorful choice of words by the JoongAng, “gas shells” (like in the WWI artillery round). For Koreans, it’s normal to cut the cheese between 15 and 25 times a day, although Kyung Hee University Hospital’s Kim Hyo-jong said it’s OK to occasionally expel gas more than that as long as it’s not accompanied by other symptoms. Frequent farting accompanied by other symptoms like abdominal pain, loss of appetite, weight loss and irregular bowl movements, however, may point to intestinal diseases.
Just because a fart smells bad is not necessarily a sign of a problem. Protein-rich foods like eggs and meat usually produce foul-smelling gas, while carbohydrates like rice and barley-rice (always a great musical food) tend to produce noise without the attending odor.
The sound produced by the gas, of course, is due to anal vibrations caused as the gas passes through. Loud farts are a sign of a healthy and happy colon, although Eulji University Hospital’s Go Byeong-seong pointed out that hemorrhoid patients who break wind loudly due to blockages of the escape route are the exception.
Those whose frequent farting is cramping their style are advised to reduce their intake of foods like beans, veggies and milk and avoid gum, sugar and carbonated drinks. Eating slow, drinking little water and not talking during eating also helps, according to the JoongAng.
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Would you believe I was cranking one out just as this page was loading up on my dial up connection?
So this is what people mean when they say there’s a powerful wave coming from Korea
But what I’ve missed with all my exposure to Korea is any rich vocabulary concerning the passing of gas. Our diet heavy on rye bread has also lead to a fairly nuanced terminology. Maybe I’ve just been hanging out with a wrong crowd, but those people usually didn’t have many qualms with the action itself.
Let’s see… a couple of google clicks… Here’s one: ?????????. Heh, in my own language and I guess in English as well this means something different.
The story is by the way also that the word ????(banggwi, prononunced usually banggu) would not even be pure Korean but a Hanja word! It would originate from the characters ??? (banggi), which was originally written as ???? in hangul, and then became ???? in formal spelling.
As a proud half-Korean, I take heart in the knowledge that the Force is strong with my people.
We now enter a new COLONial period!
Kevin
Damn! Where’s the poll!?
Now wonder the greatest military figure in Korean popular culture is Boong Boong-e Bang-gui Daejang
Waddya expect in a country where ?? is a beloved character on a children’s show?
I was months ahead of you on this one.
It’s not all about the lactose, but it mostly is.
I’m not buying the lactose argument. I drink a quart of full fat milk a day [and the cholesterol count is still on the reservation, thanks very much] and never do any backdoor breathing unless I have a whole lot of beans. Unless, there is something peculiar about Korean physiology that disables them from metabolizing dairy in the same manner that many can’t deal with alcohol.
Rotting cabbage, raw garlic, bean paste–it’s a methane fiesta on the peninsula!
So THAT’s why . . . oops, here comes my wife. Uh, never mind. No time to –
Ow!
Ow!
Ouch!
antti,
about post #3. i think you’ll find that bung gu is the country terminology and is spelled differently (?????) as in a puncture in your tire.
I had been dreaming if the Japan Islands are not on the course of the westerlies carying yellow dust from the nothern China. I found another reason for my dream today. Just a dream, I know.
sperwer wrote:I???m not buying the lactose argument. I drink a quart of full fat milk a day [and the cholesterol count is still on the reservation, thanks very much] and never do any backdoor breathing unless I have a whole lot of beans. Unless, there is something peculiar about Korean physiology that disables them from metabolizing dairy in the same manner that many can??t deal with alcohol. Read my link again. There is something about East Asian physiology that prevents breaking down of lactose into glucose and galactose due to a lack or absence of lactase enzyme. If the lactase isn’t there, then flora in the digestive tract have to break it down, which produces an abundance of water and gas, which leads to serious stomach or intestinal cramps, diarrhea, and flatulence.
The fact that you can drink a quart a day without problems doesn’t mean that other people would be able to do the same. And full fat or nonfat has nothing to do with it, since both contain lactose (unless they’re Lactaid milk). At least one Korean dairy now sells lactose-free milk (regular only; no non- or low-fate), which has been a godsend (or maybe a cowsend; bovine versus divine) to me (don’t have to get so many lactase pills sent from California).
I would have to add to that the paturization process over here is far different than back home.
Back home (don’t ask why) at times I would dink up to 4 liters of skim milk a day. Never a problem digestive wise.
here, the smell of it (even a week away from expiration) almost makes me gag. It is just not the same. A few brands are not that bad and if you want better quality, you can pay for premium.
Just cuz I bust out laughing, I should probably correct a typo. That should read “DRINK” up to 4 liters.
I don’t think Pasteurization has anything to do with it. Lactose intolerance occurs with pasteurized milk, non-pasteurized, cheese, yogurt, and even “dry milk” that is put into bread and other bakery products.
I didn’t like Korean milk at first, but grew to like it. I go back and forth from Korean milk to the ultra-pasteurized milk at Yongsan Garrison, and neither one bothers me much, taste-wise.
wednesday links
After being one of the bloggers who ran with the Reuters item saying that Sister Hibiscus was the target of a crackdown, I’ll hold off on comment on this item in the Telegraph suggesting that the CCP are seeking to
Kushibo:
OK, I checked the link; but I still am not sold. If this were an issue of ethno-genetic lactose intolerance, the JAD article would have been talking about diarrhea and gastrointestinal pain as much as or more than farting. It’s also hard to imagine that given the susceptibility to actual pain and diarrhea, Koreans would be drinking enough milk to create a farting problem. Finally, my wife tells me that there has been no increase in flatulence in Korea since the ingestion of dairy products has become more widespread.
I think this is another subtle effort to blame the West for a very homegrown problem. ;))
I share your general distast for Korean milk. I used to get milk on the weekends from my neighbor’s cows in upstate New York and, in the City, found a supplier from whom I could get the real deal in a glass bottle with the cream on top. The only thing here that is readily available that’s even close to the same quality is the full fat stuff under the “pasteur” brand name.
Finally, my wife tells me that there has been no increase in flatulence in Korea since the ingestion of dairy products has become more widespread.
Wow, and I thought I had the best job in the world. Your wife gets to monitor Korea’s fart count?
Kushibo:
Subjective? Moi?
You’re - I take it from your post - the one whose gut aches - with which I genuinely sympathize, if only because I wouldn’t want to be without my daily fix of milk and cheese (it’s the old North European berserker genes, dontcha know - my understanding is that early Europeans too were generally lactose intolerant, but that northern Europeans gradually adapted because dairy products and animals were what enabled them to last through the winters, while the incidence of lactose intolerance among southern Europeans, who didn’t have any Darwinian impulse to so adapt, is much, much higher).
Sure, my wife’s input is merely anectodal. But she’s a Korean, younger than me, but probably old enough to be your mother. Works with a large number of Koreans, male and female, of varying ages and has had an opportunity to watch (and bemoan) the growth in Korean consumption of dairy products (in all their insidious and nefarious forms); she’s in the nutrition business. So, if she says that the incidence of farting among Koreans is not correlated with dairy intake — another anecdotal source is the rish scatalogical literature and lore in Korea [Big Hominid, ffel free to jump in here] long pre-dating the introduction of dairy products — that’s a pretty good working hypothesis for me. Besides she is the wife, and a Korean one, so not only must she be obeyed, she must actually be listened too. ;))
So, yeah I got milk (and game and gun[s]), and I don’t see anything about the JoonAng article except a plain vanilla e.g. of the post hoc propter hoc fallacy.
Brendon:
Brendon:
If your current squat runs out of gas, let me know and I’ll get Young to line you up with a gig on the fart census.
Yeah, Sperwer (#22), my gut can ache like a muther-fucker if I consume dairy without a lactase pill now. I’ve been that way since sophomore year of college.
I think you’re right that flatulence has probably been around and written about for many dynasties, but I also think the high amount of dairy has contributed enough that things like this make it news.
And when you talk about northern and southern Europeans and lactose intolerance, you may be touching on acquired lactose intolerance which occurs when the body diminishes lactase production because of lack of need. This can be reversed.
Asian-Americans, who supposedly are up to 90% lactose intolerant are more commonly the genetic variety, where the body just stops producing it in required quantities, whether the body is consuming lactose or not. Some 10% of Whites in America might also be of this type.
I have always loved milk, and I don’t mind cheese, either. From cereal in the morning to cream in my coffee to yogurt and cottage cheese, milk has always been a part of my day. The lack of lactase production had nothing to do with lack of need for the enzyme.
If 90% of Asian-Americans are lactose intolerant, there’s got to be something similar going on among same-ethnic cousins back in Asia. But the literature on lactose intolerance was slow at making its way into doctor’s offices. When I checked two years ago, there was only one place offering a lactose intolerance diagnostic exam, and no place selling lactase pills. Only in the last few weeks is lactose-free milk being sold in stores.
I swear to god, there have been times where I’ve actually feared causing an end to the SK-NK ceasefire with some of the ass cookies i’ve dropped here.
I think one one time may actually have been responsible for setting off my apartment smoke detector.
Multiply MY experience by the entire Korean population and it’s actually conceivable to think if the entire peninsula farted simultaneously that we all might choke to death.
I’m serious about this. Maybe some government resources should be allocated to conduct a feasibility study before it’s too late.