WEBVTT
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Welcome to the Causes or Cures Podcast, your gateway to understanding health and groundbreaking medical research in a fun and easy to understand way.
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With Dr.
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Eeks as your host, join us as we sit down with the world's leading doctors and scientists to unravel the mysteries of health.
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From practical tips on well-being to the latest breakthroughs in medical research, we cover it all.
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Don't forget to subscribe.
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Now, let's ignite our curiosity and together dive into today's episode.
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Hello, hello everybody, and thanks for joining in to this episode of Causes or Cures.
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I'm Dr.
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Ekes, your host.
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Hope you're doing well out there.
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So, underwear.
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Underwear?
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Under there.
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We're gonna talk about underwear today.
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We're not talking about dumb underwear.
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No, no, no.
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We are talking about smart underwear.
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Yes, smart underwear is a thing, you guys.
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It's a thing.
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In this episode, I'm talking with researcher Dr.
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Brantley Hall about a wearable device designed to continuously measure hydrogen gas produced by our gut microbes.
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Basically, it's measuring farts.
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Okay, that's the elevator pitch.
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And while the underwear part is admittedly fun, the bigger idea is pretty fascinating.
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A new way to watch how the gut microbiome responds to what we eat almost in real time.
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Smart underwear, you guys.
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So we get into how it works, what they learned, when people actually wore the device, and where this technology could eventually take us.
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Maybe by the end of this, you too will want a pair.
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Alright, so let's connect to Dr.
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Hall and learn more about smart underwear.
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Alright, everybody.
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We are connecting with Professor Brantley Hall.
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Brantley, thank you for joining in.
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And do you mind telling our listeners a little bit about yourself and what you do?
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Sure thing.
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So I'm a microbiologist at the University of Maryland.
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We mostly study human gut microbes, and we're truly fascinated by the chemistry that microbes perform in your gut.
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And that doesn't seem like immediately like farts, but one of the key outcomes of microbial metabolism in your gut is gas production.
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And you know, until today, this has been largely unmeasured.
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So that's one of the big gaps we're trying to solve in my lab at the University of Maryland.
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We've never measured farts before.
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Almost never.
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Wow.
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We can go into the technical details.
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I can describe in like a lot of detail what was measured and how it's not exactly farts.
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But yeah, farts have technically never been measured before.
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Okay.
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So when I first saw your paper and I saw some of the news articles, I'm like, smart underwear, like what is this?
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And then I said, I have to ask you to come on the podcast.
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And then I also have to ask you, like, how did you get this idea?
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Like Okay, well, there's a story there.
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Um, so we were trying to do this in vitro, um, just like growing microbes, and we're trying to measure the amount of hydrogen that they produced.
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And the microbes in your gut, they live in an anaerobic environment.
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There's no there's no oxygen around.
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And so we have to replicate that to grow them in vitro.
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So we were, you know, measuring hydrogen or at least trying to in our anaerobic chamber in my lab, and the hydrogen sensor never worked.
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It worked great outside of the anaerobic chamber, but it did not work in the anaerobic chamber.
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And so I got really frustrated with this one day, and I'm like, I'm gonna take it home over the weekend and I'm gonna fart on it.
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I'm gonna see if we can measure this microbial metabolate because it's the exact same thing we're trying to measure.
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And you know, it works great outside of the chamber, but it didn't work inside the anaerobic chamber.
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So we switched up instead of trying to do this like directly in microbes, we took a more human-centric approach and now we're like studying the phenomenon in humans.
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I love that.
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So you just took the one.
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100%.
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It's hysterical.
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Okay, but you know, and it sounds funny to people, and I get that, but like there's actually a connection here to something like scientific and that could help people.
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So, like if you were giving an elevator pitch, why smart underwear?
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Like, what's what's the big deal?
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One in five people report excess intestinal gas.
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There's no way to measure it.
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So you if you go to your doctor, we're stuck in like basically you know, the last century, they're gonna ask you from smiley face to frowny face, how bad is your gas?
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We think that gas production deserves to be measured.
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Just like we measure heart rate, like we measure postprennial glucose response.
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We should measure gas because it has a big effect on our health.
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It affects how we feel.
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If you have excess gas, it you know, um makes you think worse.
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You know, it kind of like makes you irritable.
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It it causes so many effects.
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And people talk about the gut brain axis, and this is one kind of communication strategy.
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The microbes, you know, it's a way that we feel what's going on in our digestive tract is the amount of gas and the sensation of bloating.
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And so there's like one of our problems is there's so many things related to this.
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It's kind of hard to answer just one.
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But I think in the future, we hope to kind of give a voice to people who show up with their doctor.
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They're like, I'm farting a hundred times a day.
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The doctor's like, no way.
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And we want to give this person like some objective data to show their doctor and say, I really am.
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This is this is my pattern, because right now it's based completely on subjective patient reports.
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And that's so interesting too, because I I don't remember like the last time I was asked that or offered that information at the doctor's office.
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But like, what is normal?
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Like if someone says they're farting five times a day, and or if someone says they're farting 50 times a day, like what what is a lot?
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Yeah.
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And so this is based on a very small study done in like the 1980s, but the number is 14 plus or minus six flattys per day.
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Now, this isn't actually a fart, though, because this study was done via rectal tubes.
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So they like had people in the office, they used a rectal tube and collected the gas and they kind of inferred farts from it.
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But I would note that like the rectum plays an important part in the actual kind of emergence of a flattus.
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And so I think a rectal tube bypasses one piece of it.
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So I don't even think that was truly the measurement of flatus, and it was in like two dozen people, and so like we we can do better in the 21st century.
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We can do better.
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I love that the emergence of Flatus.
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A flat is it Flatus or Flatus?
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I think you're supposed to say it Flatus, but like some people say it flatus.
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I I'm guilty of sometimes saying flatus because it was like flatulence.
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It's a it's but flatus is like I think what you should say.
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And like if you're in the UK, it's definitely Flatus.
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In the US, like people kind of like verge between Flatus and Flatus.
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Okay, so your device measures hydrogen and intestinal gas.
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So why hydrogen?
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What is that telling us about what the gut gut microbes are doing?
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Yeah, great question.
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So there's two major gases present in farts, um hydrogen and carbon dioxide.
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Carbon dioxide is also produced by humans.
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And so it's not a signal of microbial metabolism.
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It's not an exclusive signal.
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Like microbes produce it, but you know, there could be, you know, you could be standing behind a car or you could be breathing on it.
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So it's cross-sensitive to other things.
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But the amount of hydrogen that's present in a fart is extraordinary.
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There might be 30 to 50% hydrogen.
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And like you hope that you don't encounter any other environments with 30 to 50% hydrogen, because that's genuinely an explosive level.
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Actually, 4% is explosive.
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And so um, you really won't encounter 30 to 50% hydrogen anywhere else in the world.
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And so if you have such a high amount of hydrogen, it's an incredibly good signal for microbial metabolism.
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And so if there's hydrogen present in farts, it means your microbes in the gut are doing something.
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Okay.
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And is that good or bad?
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Like, is it do you want more or do you want less, or are we trying to get like optimal range?
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Yeah, there's not one answer that's going to apply to everyone.
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So there are people, you know, that are farting too much and want to fart less.
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There's people who have, you know, the sensation of trapped gas and want to fart more.
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There's the dimension of our diet.
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So like I could give someone a diet that makes them fart zero times a day, but that probably wouldn't be a healthy diet.
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And so like one of our major challenges right now is with our ultra-processed food is adding more fiber back into our diet.
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95% of Americans don't eat like enough fiber based on the FDA's recommended um amount.
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And so adding fiber is really important.
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It's you know so good for health, but at the same time, it's directly correlated with the production of flatus.
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And so you kind of you know could be eating a lot of fiber and farting 200 times a day, and you could feel very healthy.
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But what the most interesting thing is like we actually see these people, we call them Zen digesters, and we don't actually have a scientific explanation for this.
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They eat healthy high fiber diets, but don't fart much, which means that there's a microbial configuration out there, which supports a healthy high fiber diet without excess gas.
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And so those people are kind of, you know, what we're trying to kind of get to in other people, like tap figure out what that state is and how to like recreate that state in other people so they can eat healthy high fiber diets without farting.
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I'm gonna ask a really pedestrian grade school question here.
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Can you hold in?
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Can you actually hold in a fart and like not let it go?
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And are these based on self-report?
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So ours are based on objective, but um yeah, you can hold and some hydrogen is gonna diffuse across into circulation.
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And you breathe out some hydrogen produced by gut microbes.
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So you actually have farts in your breath, is like the way I like to say it.
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But hydrogen is very insoluble, and so not that much hydrogen like goes out.
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It might be like a considerable amount of the total, but it's very diluted in your breath.
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So there's not that much hydrogen.
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Is it possible to hold a fart and make it completely go away?
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Unknown.
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But do we see the pattern of people holding their farts?
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100%.
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There's like a very kind of famous example in our lab of someone who like this person was wearing the device for one week every day in a row.
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And during the weekdays, it was like very few farts.
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And on the weekend, it was like 50 farts a day.
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And we knew this person, so we could ask them like what's going on here.
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And she's like, Well, I feel so so self-conscious because I live with a roommate and I don't want to just be farting all the time.
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But like when I'm at home, I go home on the weekends, I just let them rip.
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I feel less self-conscious.
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And so we 100% see that pattern.
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And actually, when we are doing studies, we have people wear it on one weekday and one weekend day to kind of compensate for that um pattern people have.
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That's really interesting.
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But so you can't hold it in forever, it will come out.
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I think.
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I think.
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I mean, there could be a very edge case where you have very few VARDs overall and they're holding them in.
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But I think that's going to describe a very small portion of people.
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It's and science doesn't know the answer to that either.
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So, like, yeah.
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Um it's to me determined.
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More research is needed.
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So, one thing that surprised me about your paper.
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So, I people wore the device, like the smart underwear, for more than 11 hours a day.
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Yeah.
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So, okay, so to me that means like it's pretty comfortable.
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Oh yeah.
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So tell me about the process, what it took to make these underwear and to get people to wear them.
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All right.
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I'll hold up the very first version.
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Oh yes.
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It's it's good to show the progress.
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So this is the very first version.
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So there's like a belt clip, and then this big wire would go into your pants, and this would stick to your underwear.
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And so obviously, no one wanted to wear that.
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So we've done many hardware revisions over the last five years, and we've got it down to something that's about the size of a stack of nickels.
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And um, do you have a snap?
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I'll hold up the snap, my camera can focus.
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This might be audio only, but there's a snap, and the snap goes on the inside of the underwear, and the smart underwear goes on the outside, and you kind of just snap it in and it fits, you know, pretty, pretty comfortably.
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There's a space, we like to say adjacent to the perennium, kind of like near your butt.
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And there's space there.
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And if you find the right spot and center it in your underwear, you really won't feel it very well.
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If if it's uh like it's off-center, you will feel it, but if it's on center, you you won't feel it that much.
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And actually, like the the paper was with an older device, but with our newer device, we have people wear it 24 hours a day.
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And no barn.
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Yeah.
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Okay, so okay.
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So there goes my dog.
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No worries.
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Come here, Barnaby.
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There he goes again.
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Barnaby.
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All right, so were you hold on Barnaby?
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Barnaby.
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Barnabas.
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Sorry.
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No worries.
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Alright, now where did I Okay, okay, so you test it.
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Were you surprised that people were willing to wear it just because of the psychology around it, like measuring farts?
00:12:18.480 --> 00:12:19.039
Very much.
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And it's never been a problem to find people to wear it though.
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So when we launched our human flatus atlas study, we were thinking about how many devices should we make?
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And we we made 800, and we're like, oh, we'll never use all these.
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So 13,000 people have signed up so far.
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Um, and so we have an absolutely overwhelming demand.
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And I get emails from people every day um asking to be in the study.
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And so we're we're trying to make devices as fast as we can.
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Obviously, we won't be able to include all 13,000, but just based on the emails I get, there are people who are so motivated to understand like where they compare to the average and what is kind of triggering their flatulence patterns.
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And is it like men and women, all different ages?
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Perhaps women more than men, if we're being honest.
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Um really.
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Yeah.
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Wow.
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That's so because one of my questions was like, how who volunteered for this type of study?
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So you have no issues getting volunteers.
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We're we're our issues, we're completely overwhelmed by the amount of people emailing us.
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Yeah.
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Um, absolutely.
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One part of your paper that I loved when you wrote to address fire hazard concerns associated with lithium ion batteries, we redesigned the power system to use two silver oxide coin cell batteries just because that created such a funny image in my brain.
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Because I was like, oh my gosh, like if there's a fire in your underwear, like literally, that's what I thought of.
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So yeah.
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And it's it was a really big concern for us.
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I mean, I think there's the saying, you know, liar, liar, pants on fire.
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And we said that to ourselves a lot, and we didn't want that to happen to anyone.
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So um we've we've done a ton of engineering around making the battery safe.
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And like when now it's like encased in like a metal case, and there's like multiple chips on the PCB that make sure that it doesn't short and overpower or overheat.
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And so, yeah, there's never been any issues.
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Um, we were just trying to, you know, be safe.
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And so we we've we've been able to succeed in that part.
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Yeah.
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No one's ever had a battery issue.
00:14:04.480 --> 00:14:10.799
So you were able to detect changes after participants ate inulin, which is a type of dietary fiber.
00:14:10.960 --> 00:14:13.120
So can you tell our listeners a little bit about that?
00:14:13.200 --> 00:14:16.080
Like you were like, oh, yeah, this thing works.
00:14:16.480 --> 00:14:16.879
Exactly.
00:14:17.039 --> 00:14:19.919
And the design of this study was literally just to say that this works.
00:14:20.080 --> 00:14:22.639
And so inulin is a very common fiber.
00:14:22.720 --> 00:14:24.320
It's made from chicory roots.
00:14:24.480 --> 00:14:30.960
And if you eat like a fiber one bar or a lot of foods that have added fiber, um, inulin is probably going to be the fiber that you eat.
00:14:31.120 --> 00:14:35.519
And in our testing, inulin probably causes more gas than most other fibers.
00:14:35.600 --> 00:14:36.639
So it's pretty gassy.
00:14:36.799 --> 00:14:41.039
So we just designed a study to contrast a no fiber versus high fiber diet.
00:14:41.120 --> 00:14:44.879
And the hypothesis was if smart out where is working in, we could detect that difference.
00:14:45.039 --> 00:14:49.759
And so we fed people dots candy and we found these Amazon fiber gummies that looked just like dots.
00:14:49.840 --> 00:14:51.440
So they were actually blinded to it.
00:14:51.600 --> 00:14:53.039
Um dots are terrible, actually.
00:14:53.120 --> 00:14:57.200
What was concerning is the Amazon fiber gummies were more delicious than the got the dots.
00:14:57.360 --> 00:14:59.200
So um, yeah, dots are terrible.
00:14:59.279 --> 00:15:00.240
But we had these two things.
00:15:00.320 --> 00:15:01.679
So that it was single blinded.
00:15:01.919 --> 00:15:08.480
We had people eat dots one day, and then these Amazon fiber gummies with six grams of anulin this the second day, and we compared the amount of farts.
00:15:08.559 --> 00:15:17.600
And very, very, you know, fortunately for us, and 36 out of 38 people, there were more farts on the you know day with the fiber than the day with just the regular dots.
00:15:17.679 --> 00:15:21.039
And so we are able to confirm, you know, we were very good at detecting farts.
00:15:21.519 --> 00:15:22.879
Very good at detecting farts.
00:15:23.039 --> 00:15:23.360
Wow.
00:15:23.600 --> 00:15:25.919
Did anything surprise you from your results?
00:15:26.159 --> 00:15:27.759
Oh my goodness, so many things surprised me.
00:15:27.840 --> 00:15:32.639
Um so I mean, this was complete scientific unknown.
00:15:32.799 --> 00:15:40.240
Uh so there we saw the first signs of the Zen digester in the study, in the very first study, but like people who were eating a lot but not farting a lot.
00:15:40.399 --> 00:15:41.840
That was like strange.
00:15:42.000 --> 00:15:44.240
Um, not the scientific prediction.
00:15:44.480 --> 00:15:47.600
We were surprised by how many times people were farting in the paper.
00:15:47.759 --> 00:15:54.799
Um, our person was like 59 times a day on average, but now we're up to like over 200 times a day on people are farting.
00:15:55.039 --> 00:16:02.080
And like imagine going to your doctor who read the medical definition, 14 plus or minus six, and you're like, hello, I'm farting 200 times a day.
00:16:02.320 --> 00:16:03.120
What are they gonna think?
00:16:03.200 --> 00:16:04.320
They're gonna think you're crazy.
00:16:04.480 --> 00:16:10.639
I was actually giving a talk at a medical school um like last month, and I I it was to like younger doctors, like residents and fellows.
00:16:10.720 --> 00:16:16.240
And I asked them, like in your medical school that they were in recently, how many times a day did they tell you people would fart?
00:16:16.480 --> 00:16:20.960
And actually, no one had learned about how many times it's normal either, which is an interesting thing.
00:16:21.039 --> 00:16:24.000
Um, and so yeah, that was extremely fascinating.
00:16:24.240 --> 00:16:26.080
We we were also fascinated by the patterns.
00:16:26.240 --> 00:16:27.039
I could go on forever.
00:16:27.120 --> 00:16:28.000
I'll I'll wrap this up.
00:16:28.080 --> 00:16:33.279
But a lot of people have these postprandial farts, and so it's like they eat and then they fart kind of shortly afterwards.
00:16:33.360 --> 00:16:44.159
And it's probably not the gas from the meal that they just consumed, but it's kind of like gas that's stored in their gut, and then the gastrocolic reflex becomes active after you eat, and like that gas is kind of passed shortly after.
00:16:44.240 --> 00:16:50.399
So we were kind of surprised at the patterns of this gastrocolic reflex that we could see um kind of in farts as well.
00:16:50.720 --> 00:16:59.200
Okay, I'm gonna ask another kindergarten-like question, but just because I have you on the line here, you did nothing with like the smell of the fart.
00:16:59.279 --> 00:17:03.759
Like, does the hydrogen gas correspond with the smell?
00:17:03.919 --> 00:17:06.400
I know that was not part of your work, but I'm just curious.
00:17:06.880 --> 00:17:07.200
Great question.
00:17:07.359 --> 00:17:12.319
And we we actually have a an NIH grant on like this exact topic, measuring hydrogen sulfide and flattus.
00:17:12.480 --> 00:17:15.279
Um, so there's there's I'll I'll gonna give a hedge though.
00:17:15.359 --> 00:17:17.039
So as a scientist, you always have to hedge.
00:17:17.119 --> 00:17:20.720
There's there's multiple molecules that contribute to the odor of flatulence.
00:17:20.880 --> 00:17:23.440
Um, there's volatile sulfur compounds.
00:17:23.599 --> 00:17:27.119
The most abundant is hydrogen sulfide, and it has a rotten egg smell.
00:17:27.279 --> 00:17:29.119
And then it gets kind of they get larger.
00:17:29.200 --> 00:17:32.319
So there's methane thiol, so it's like CH3SH.
00:17:32.640 --> 00:17:35.599
And that one smells more like rotten cabbage.
00:17:35.680 --> 00:17:40.240
Like if you got like kemchi in your refrigerator and like open the refrigerator, that smell.
00:17:40.480 --> 00:17:44.480
And then the larger um volatile sulfur compounds have more of like a burnt rubber smell.
00:17:44.559 --> 00:17:48.400
If someone like did like a burnout in their car in front of your house, kind of like that smell.
00:17:48.559 --> 00:17:54.799
So I think the rotten egg smell and like the rotten cabbage smell are the most common kind of like um, you know, fart smells.
00:17:54.960 --> 00:17:56.559
But there's also amines.
00:17:56.960 --> 00:18:02.720
Um, and there's um molecules like scatol and spermidine that have some weird smells.
00:18:02.880 --> 00:18:07.039
And then there's this molecule called Endol, which is it's a fascinating molecule.
00:18:07.200 --> 00:18:12.319
It kind of has what people report to be a fecal odor, but um it's also used in perfume.
00:18:12.480 --> 00:18:13.359
And I smelled it.
00:18:13.440 --> 00:18:15.920
I made a bunch of different concentrations of it and smelled it.
00:18:16.079 --> 00:18:20.160
I don't think it smells good in any concentration, so it's very strange that they're using it in perfume.
00:18:20.240 --> 00:18:24.480
But so those are some of the molecules that like kind of lend farts their their odor.
00:18:24.640 --> 00:18:27.920
But these are like incredibly low abundance compared to hydrogen.
00:18:28.079 --> 00:18:33.200
There might be like one ppm hydrogen sulfide versus 200,000 ppm hydrogen.
00:18:33.359 --> 00:18:36.000
So our noses are just really good at detecting it.
00:18:36.079 --> 00:18:43.759
Um I I this is a hypothesis, but I would say that humans are probably adapted towards smelling rotten food and avoiding rotten food.
00:18:44.000 --> 00:18:48.160
I mean, imagine our ancestors and they're trying to like figure out is this you know safe to eat or unsafe to eat.
00:18:48.480 --> 00:18:51.200
And hydrogen sulfide is a pretty good signal of of decay.
00:18:51.359 --> 00:18:57.279
And so we're very, very sensitive at like PPB levels to hydrogen sulfide and methane thyl.
00:18:57.519 --> 00:18:59.440
And so those are kind of the main molecules.
00:18:59.599 --> 00:19:00.880
But we can measure them.
00:19:00.960 --> 00:19:04.720
Um, we haven't published our study about this yet, but it's uh we'll follow up maybe next year.
00:19:04.799 --> 00:19:04.960
Yeah.
00:19:05.200 --> 00:19:06.079
Yeah, definitely.
00:19:06.160 --> 00:19:08.160
I I'm I'm curious about that.
00:19:08.799 --> 00:19:10.880
And that that's such a great hypothesis.
00:19:11.200 --> 00:19:23.119
What you just said about, you know, kind of like how we evolved and then why we like run into the other room if somebody farts like that, or like you don't want to be the person to do that, and everybody wants to avoid you.
00:19:23.279 --> 00:19:23.519
Yeah.
00:19:23.759 --> 00:19:30.480
There's a lot of social interactions involved when it comes to farting and like shame and embarrassment and and humor too.
00:19:30.559 --> 00:19:31.599
Um I think so.
00:19:31.759 --> 00:19:31.920
Yeah.
00:19:32.160 --> 00:19:42.240
And I think our culture is kind of puritanical and it's like treatment of farts that it's like, you know, we're like a quiet culture, and it's like very rude to be loud and interrupt and be smelly.
00:19:42.400 --> 00:19:48.319
But I think in other cultures they have a much more kind of let it rip attitude, and it'll just be like farting at the table and like it's okay.
00:19:48.480 --> 00:19:52.720
And so there's like a cult cultural dimension of of fart acceptance as well.
00:19:52.880 --> 00:19:59.119
Um, so I I I people love to talk about it in different cultures and like what their family's like or what they're, you know, like in their home country, what it's like.
00:19:59.200 --> 00:20:00.000
And it's very different.
00:20:00.480 --> 00:20:04.000
Where what country could you just like fart freely and feel proud?
00:20:04.240 --> 00:20:05.599
Loud and proud.
00:20:06.000 --> 00:20:08.000
So this person was from Southeast Asia.
00:20:08.160 --> 00:20:08.799
Um yeah.
00:20:09.119 --> 00:20:10.640
Oh, okay, okay.
00:20:10.720 --> 00:20:11.599
You're so right though.
00:20:11.680 --> 00:20:15.920
Like, yeah, here we're just like, oh, don't fart, don't do it, it'll ruin your social life.
00:20:16.000 --> 00:20:16.400
Yeah.
00:20:16.480 --> 00:20:19.680
Um, which is crazy, which is crazy because it's something that we have to do.
00:20:20.079 --> 00:20:29.680
But so so and from your research, it sounds like two people can eat like the exact same thing, and then their smart underwear are gonna show different measurements.
00:20:30.000 --> 00:20:30.880
Yeah, totally.
00:20:31.119 --> 00:20:32.640
And that was very surprising to us.
00:20:32.720 --> 00:20:33.680
We we didn't expect it.
00:20:34.000 --> 00:20:43.359
But and even between the same person between different days, like there were people who farted a hundredfold more on the Inulin day than on the sham day.
00:20:43.440 --> 00:20:48.319
So, like just by changing what you eat, you can fart a hundred times more one day versus another.
00:20:48.799 --> 00:20:49.200
Awesome.
00:20:49.359 --> 00:20:51.279
So, what what does this tell us?
00:20:51.359 --> 00:20:55.200
Uh yeah, so it gives you an idea of what your gut microbiome is up to.
00:20:55.359 --> 00:21:00.720
So that those people um who are farting a lot, their microbiomes are very active, they're metabolizing and producing hydrogen.
00:21:01.200 --> 00:21:03.759
This can lead to like overall physiological effects.
00:21:04.160 --> 00:21:20.079
So there's this gut brain axis phenomenon where if you have repeated distension of your GI tract, it can lead to sensitization, and then you become kind of like aware of normal amounts of gas to where you like, you become normal amounts of gas become painful.
00:21:20.240 --> 00:21:22.799
And that's a disorder called visceral hypersensitivity.
00:21:23.039 --> 00:21:29.039
Um, and so a lot of people with IBS actually have this disorder of on the gut brain axis called visceral hypersensitivity.
00:21:29.200 --> 00:21:40.079
And it's it's a big problem because these people will show up to their doctor and they're like, I'm farting a ton, but they're not actually farting a ton, but the doctor doesn't know how much they're actually farting because this is just the patient reported value.
00:21:40.240 --> 00:21:42.240
And so they can't get them the right treatment.
00:21:42.319 --> 00:21:47.279
And so we want to stratify people into like true high farters and actually low farters, but perceived high farts.
00:21:47.359 --> 00:21:50.319
And those people are going to get different kinds of like treatment regimens.
00:21:50.640 --> 00:21:51.119
Oh, wow.
00:21:51.200 --> 00:21:52.400
That's that's so interesting.
00:21:52.640 --> 00:21:56.400
Now, you'll hear someone complain of being bloated, right?
00:21:56.559 --> 00:21:59.039
And is that, but then you hear different things about bloat.
00:21:59.119 --> 00:22:01.839
You'll hear like, oh, Caused by too much cortisol.
00:22:02.160 --> 00:22:07.599
But cortisol, I'm sure, and you'll know more about this than I do, connects to the microbiome.
00:22:07.759 --> 00:22:11.920
But like, does that mean that you have a lot of gas when you're bloated?
00:22:12.240 --> 00:22:12.960
Not necessarily.
00:22:13.119 --> 00:22:17.359
Bloat is such a complicated phenomenon, and it's very annoying for gastroenterologists.
00:22:17.759 --> 00:22:23.279
I think this is a really good use of this more underwear, is identifying whether excess gas is going to be a cause of bloating in that person.
00:22:23.440 --> 00:22:27.039
So some people who are bloated truly will have a lot of excess gas.
00:22:27.200 --> 00:22:28.400
But some won't.
00:22:28.559 --> 00:22:37.599
Some will have other reasons like cortisol or, you know, like, you know, other other um constipation or some other issues, and even just like not actually even be bloated objectively.
00:22:37.680 --> 00:22:38.720
They just feel bloated.
00:22:38.799 --> 00:22:40.799
And so they they have the perception of bloating.
00:22:41.039 --> 00:22:46.799
And so um, this is kind of a a problem that doctors have because like you show up and they're like, are you bloated now?
00:22:46.880 --> 00:22:48.960
And it's like, no, I'll I'll be bloated later.
00:22:49.119 --> 00:22:52.240
And then like, but you're not bloated there, so they can't really evaluate it.
00:22:52.319 --> 00:23:07.839
Um there's even this like crazy disease, abdominophrenic dysynergia, where there's like a disorder of the muscles in in your kind of belly, and you wake up and your stomach's flat, but like by the end of the night, you look pregnant, and um, it's not related to gas production.
00:23:07.920 --> 00:23:10.240
It's bloating, but it's not related to gas production.
00:23:10.400 --> 00:23:12.160
And so there's a lot going on there.
00:23:12.400 --> 00:23:17.759
Um and the smart underwear can be useful in stratifying these people and understanding what is the cause of their bloating.
00:23:18.079 --> 00:23:22.880
Okay, so tell me what do you see smart underwear being used for?
00:23:22.960 --> 00:23:26.720
It sounds like you're in the research stage still.
00:23:27.039 --> 00:23:27.200
Yeah.
00:23:27.519 --> 00:23:29.920
But like, okay, so where do you see where do you see this going?
00:23:30.480 --> 00:23:33.519
Yeah, so I mean, it's very, very useful in research projects.
00:23:33.599 --> 00:23:48.640
And in fact, I'm involved in so many collaborations now um where people are feeding participants and trying to see like the amount of gas and how that relates to other phenomena, or even seeing whether um participants are actually following a diet.
00:23:48.799 --> 00:23:53.440
So if you give someone a very strict diet, an exclusion diet, and they're fighting a lot, they're not following the diet.
00:23:53.519 --> 00:23:55.839
So it gives you kind of an idea of compliance with the diet.
00:23:56.000 --> 00:23:57.839
So there's that research dimension.
00:23:58.079 --> 00:23:58.640
Yeah.
00:23:58.960 --> 00:24:04.160
There's a big kind of change in the prebiotic industry or the fiber industry that's going on right now.
00:24:04.319 --> 00:24:13.039
You know, it was previously like psyllium and enulin were the major fiber ingredients, but those were kind of like chosen because they were cheap and they're not really good.
00:24:13.200 --> 00:24:18.079
And so now we're finding better fibers and prebiotics that we can add to food.
00:24:18.240 --> 00:24:25.279
And we're working with the kind of ingredient companies to help verify, you know, whether these are good, what dose you need, is it better than enulin or not?
00:24:25.359 --> 00:24:27.039
So there's that kind of like research use.
00:24:27.279 --> 00:24:35.759
But we think uh kind of a direct consumer use could also be something really interesting where people kind of like a microbiome test, people are very curious about themselves.
00:24:36.000 --> 00:24:37.680
And it's like a journey of self-discovery.
00:24:37.759 --> 00:24:40.640
It's like, what are my fart patterns like compared to other people?
00:24:40.880 --> 00:24:43.759
You know, if I eat like a lot of apples, do I fart a lot, or is it like garlic?
00:24:43.839 --> 00:24:53.440
Like a lot of people say I fart a ton after garlic, but you know, you could you know buy one of the devices and like eat different foods, and we could help you understand like the triggers that lead to your gas production.
00:24:53.599 --> 00:24:57.359
And so and even understand the kind of alignment of your gut-brain axis.
00:24:57.440 --> 00:25:07.200
Um so we would like ask people how much do you think you're farting, and then like measure how much they actually are farting, and be like, oh, well, you know, you're you're right on, or wait, you're vastly overreporting the number of farts you have.
00:25:07.359 --> 00:25:08.640
Like you're you're this is normal.
00:25:08.720 --> 00:25:10.160
Just like kind of like relax.
00:25:10.240 --> 00:25:17.039
And that's like sounds small, but like that's what a lot of people are looking for when they they kind of seek care from their gastroenterologists.
00:25:17.200 --> 00:25:23.920
Like, just this is normal because it's something we don't talk about, and something so stigmatized, and so like understanding that like where they sit is really important.
00:25:24.000 --> 00:25:26.079
So I could keep going, but I'm gonna I'm gonna stop there.
00:25:26.160 --> 00:25:26.880
There's many uses.
00:25:27.119 --> 00:25:28.400
Yeah, no, no, I love that.
00:25:28.480 --> 00:25:34.000
And I I just remember when when I was in med school, like you might ask someone after surgery, like, are you passing gas?
00:25:34.160 --> 00:25:38.079
But then it was like you don't really talk about like exactly, and it's always embarrassing.
00:25:38.160 --> 00:25:43.200
We're actually doing a study exactly on that, um the post-surgical part part resumption.
00:25:43.279 --> 00:25:45.680
Um that's a that's a brilliant, yeah.
00:25:45.759 --> 00:25:51.440
And that would be that's actually you know, just in terms of like, oh yeah, there's not an obstruction or something, or like this person, yeah.
00:25:51.519 --> 00:25:52.400
Oh, that's exactly fun.
00:25:52.960 --> 00:25:53.359
Exactly.
00:25:53.599 --> 00:25:57.039
That would have to be a medical device, and so that would have to undergo approval.
00:25:57.279 --> 00:25:59.359
Um so there's a kind of bigger barrier to that.
00:26:00.079 --> 00:26:03.039
But we're 100% investigating whether it'd be interesting.
00:26:03.359 --> 00:26:04.480
Um, I love that.
00:26:04.559 --> 00:26:07.200
Now, would no a consumer can't get this right now.
00:26:07.359 --> 00:26:10.319
Smart underwear, like you can't go to Amazon and get smart underwear.
00:26:10.640 --> 00:26:11.039
Not yet.
00:26:11.200 --> 00:26:14.000
But um but we're like it's coming.
00:26:14.240 --> 00:26:14.960
We it's coming, yeah.
00:26:15.119 --> 00:26:17.599
We have a spin-out company, and um we're gonna launch.
00:26:17.680 --> 00:26:23.519
I can't I can't name the details yet, but um we're gonna launch this fall and it will be a companion to a microbiome test.
00:26:23.680 --> 00:26:32.720
So you can do a stool microbiome test and then see how your farts relate to the microbes live in your gut and kind of kind of really good synergy between the two types of tests.
00:26:32.880 --> 00:26:34.480
So um expect to see something.
00:26:34.640 --> 00:26:38.640
It would be ultra exclusive at first, like just a few hundred people, but um, you know, yeah.
00:26:38.720 --> 00:26:42.160
No, people are are really like buggy me really hard to buy it.
00:26:42.240 --> 00:26:43.839
And so we're gonna try to make them, yeah.
00:26:44.079 --> 00:26:45.519
Oh no, I love that.
00:26:45.759 --> 00:26:48.640
So what is you got a lot of media attention?
00:26:48.880 --> 00:27:00.079
I'm just what what has been like what headline made you kind of like raise an eyebrow or laugh, or if did you see something out there where you're like, oh my gosh, that's right, or oh my gosh, that's wrong.
00:27:00.400 --> 00:27:01.519
There's been so much good coverage.
00:27:01.599 --> 00:27:03.599
My favorite headline is Fitbit for Farts.
00:27:03.759 --> 00:27:05.200
And so that was in the Wall Street Journal.
00:27:05.279 --> 00:27:06.480
I think that's a good name.
00:27:06.640 --> 00:27:07.759
Fitbit for Farts, yeah.
00:27:08.160 --> 00:27:09.759
It gives you a good idea of what it is.
00:27:09.839 --> 00:27:11.039
That that's my favorite one.
00:27:11.119 --> 00:27:17.759
But um several journalists actually like wore the device and and did several trials um with with them and like ate different foods.
00:27:17.839 --> 00:27:20.720
And so those were my favorite ones when people people used it.
00:27:21.039 --> 00:27:23.920
I think it's in I think it would be a very interesting self-test.
00:27:24.000 --> 00:27:25.519
Like I would do it, honestly.
00:27:25.680 --> 00:27:29.359
But if you have an extra device lying around with it, 100%.
00:27:29.759 --> 00:27:34.960
I mean, we can send you one and you can show the results and you know look, you know, tell tell your reviewers how much you're farting.
00:27:35.279 --> 00:27:40.480
I'm not, I think it's super interesting what you're doing, and uh it's awesome that you created this.
00:27:40.720 --> 00:27:46.720
I'm I'm usually not like a person who monitors everything because like I feel like I could become too obsessive about it.
00:27:46.799 --> 00:27:58.799
And I I do, I let like a lot of things go, but um, I think this is very interesting in terms of like microbiome and nutrition and just seeing because sometimes you'll be like, Oh, why do I feel so gaseous today?
00:27:58.880 --> 00:28:00.079
Like, what did I think about?
00:28:00.400 --> 00:28:01.039
Yeah, yeah.
00:28:01.279 --> 00:28:03.200
We've all had that day, and like what did we eat?
00:28:03.279 --> 00:28:03.519
Exactly.
00:28:03.759 --> 00:28:04.160
Yeah, yeah.
00:28:04.240 --> 00:28:05.920
Or like, is something wrong with me?
00:28:06.079 --> 00:28:09.359
Um, so do you tell people now that you invented smart underwear?
00:28:09.599 --> 00:28:10.160
For sure.
00:28:10.400 --> 00:28:11.200
Yeah, absolutely.
00:28:11.279 --> 00:28:13.519
Yeah, that's like your tagline.
00:28:14.000 --> 00:28:17.599
I mean, we we've done many cool things in my lab, um, found many important enzymes as well.
00:28:17.680 --> 00:28:19.279
But yeah, unfortunately, like Dr.
00:28:19.440 --> 00:28:21.119
Fart is the one that's catching up with me right now.
00:28:21.200 --> 00:28:22.160
That's the Doctor.
00:28:22.400 --> 00:28:23.599
How do you feel about that?
00:28:23.920 --> 00:28:24.480
It's fine.
00:28:24.559 --> 00:28:26.079
I I'm not offended by it at all.
00:28:26.240 --> 00:28:30.160
I think people people always want to make fart jokes to me, but they're like scared that I'm gonna be offended.
00:28:30.240 --> 00:28:32.000
I'm like, I love fart jokes, like have at it.
00:28:32.079 --> 00:28:33.519
Like, so no problem here.
00:28:34.079 --> 00:28:35.119
What's your favorite fart joke?
00:28:35.279 --> 00:28:35.759
Do you have one?
00:28:35.839 --> 00:28:38.240
Or it's more like a fart story.
00:28:38.480 --> 00:28:47.839
So there is a court jester who became like went from not owning land to owning land in England based on his fart performances.
00:28:47.920 --> 00:28:49.440
His name was Roland the Farter.
00:28:49.759 --> 00:28:50.319
I love that.
00:28:50.400 --> 00:28:52.559
So he his farts actually helped him find success.
00:28:52.880 --> 00:28:53.200
That's right.
00:28:54.240 --> 00:28:58.799
He was a court jester who became like a landed noble based on his farting ability.
00:28:59.039 --> 00:29:00.240
I my god.
00:29:00.880 --> 00:29:07.039
All right, so there was no dream too uh small or too that's good for him.
00:29:07.200 --> 00:29:07.599
Wow.
00:29:08.079 --> 00:29:10.160
All right, um, keep studying, kids.
00:29:10.319 --> 00:29:11.359
No, just kidding, guys.
00:29:14.240 --> 00:29:20.960
And you're doing a lot of research, and that sounds and then we might be able one day, smart underwear might be on Amazon.
00:29:21.200 --> 00:29:21.759
Absolutely.
00:29:21.920 --> 00:29:22.160
Yeah.
00:29:22.319 --> 00:29:23.200
I I love that, Brent.
00:29:23.440 --> 00:29:23.839
This is cool.
00:29:23.920 --> 00:29:24.480
Thank you so much.
00:29:24.559 --> 00:29:25.839
I think it's great what you're doing.
00:29:26.160 --> 00:29:26.480
Thank you.
00:29:26.640 --> 00:29:27.039
Yeah, yeah.
00:29:27.359 --> 00:29:28.000
Glad to be here.
00:29:28.240 --> 00:29:28.880
Absolutely.
00:29:29.119 --> 00:29:32.319
Is there anything else my listeners should know or check out?
00:29:32.480 --> 00:29:34.799
I'm I'm gonna include the link to the study for sure.
00:29:34.960 --> 00:29:35.200
Yeah.
00:29:35.440 --> 00:29:40.079
You can still sign up at flatist.info, f l-a t-us.info um if you want to.
00:29:40.240 --> 00:29:45.519
We we do have a pretty big backlog, but if you sign up, you can kind of get on the list for the you know next studies.
00:29:45.599 --> 00:29:47.759
We're we're gonna make thousands of devices and send them out.
00:29:47.839 --> 00:29:51.599
So if you sign up, you can get on the list and get notified when when more devices are coming out.
00:29:51.680 --> 00:29:52.240
We we love it.
00:29:52.400 --> 00:29:53.680
Flatisinfo.com.
00:29:53.839 --> 00:29:55.279
You didn't flattis.info, yeah.
00:29:55.359 --> 00:29:56.240
Just flatus.info.
00:29:56.960 --> 00:29:58.400
You didn't do fart.info.
00:29:58.720 --> 00:30:01.039
I I tried, but it was it was already taken.
00:30:01.200 --> 00:30:03.920
Um I won't I wonder who has that.
00:30:04.240 --> 00:30:07.039
It's not it's not a live webpage, if my memory serves me.
00:30:07.119 --> 00:30:12.160
It's just the oh did you try to find them and buy the it was listed for thousands of dollars, yeah.
00:30:12.559 --> 00:30:12.960
Forget it, yeah.
00:30:13.200 --> 00:30:16.079
This is a university project, can't afford an expensive domain.
00:30:16.160 --> 00:30:18.160
But I think Flatus.info is a really good one.
00:30:18.240 --> 00:30:20.880
So it's you know, only five letters or nine letters total.
00:30:21.039 --> 00:30:22.640
No, you'll Flatus, it's it's memorable.
00:30:22.799 --> 00:30:23.839
Flatis.info.
00:30:24.000 --> 00:30:24.559
All right, all right.
00:30:24.640 --> 00:30:26.319
Maybe some listeners will check it out then.
00:30:26.559 --> 00:30:27.039
Absolutely.
00:30:27.440 --> 00:30:28.160
Thanks for joining.
00:30:28.319 --> 00:30:29.519
Um good for you.
00:30:29.680 --> 00:30:30.640
You're gonna become really rich.
00:30:31.519 --> 00:30:32.319
I don't think so.
00:30:32.799 --> 00:30:34.480
Well, would you be a fart millionaire?
00:30:34.559 --> 00:30:35.839
It's like you would tell people that.
00:30:36.079 --> 00:30:37.119
Yes, yes.
00:30:37.440 --> 00:30:40.000
I remember um, did you watch the show Frasier?
00:30:40.160 --> 00:30:41.119
Oh, of course, yeah.
00:30:41.359 --> 00:30:45.599
And I think that Niall's wife became rich from urinal cakes.
00:30:45.920 --> 00:30:50.960
But she told everyone she was rich from timber, but in fact, like she became rich from urinal cakes.
00:30:51.119 --> 00:30:53.359
I I think about that story sometimes.
00:30:53.599 --> 00:30:56.880
It's like I'm not embarrassed to tell people about farts though, so it's fine.
00:30:57.119 --> 00:31:02.799
No, I think and why would if it makes you super rich, you're gonna like farts measuring farts.
00:31:03.200 --> 00:31:05.440
That's that's good, it could go down in the history books.
00:31:05.759 --> 00:31:07.599
I mean, I think it's just an important thing we measure.
00:31:07.680 --> 00:31:12.160
I mean, think about all the aspects of human physiology that we measure, and we learn stuff from all of them.
00:31:12.240 --> 00:31:13.920
Like, I think there's something to learn here too.
00:31:14.160 --> 00:31:15.759
Yeah, oh no, for sure there is.
00:31:15.839 --> 00:31:16.960
You shouldn't be embarrassed at all.
00:31:17.039 --> 00:31:18.960
You'll be laughing on the way to the bank.
00:31:19.200 --> 00:31:21.119
Laughing and farting on the way to the bank.
00:31:21.359 --> 00:31:22.319
That's very kind.
00:31:23.519 --> 00:31:26.559
Um, but thanks for your time, and I'll follow follow up on email.
00:31:26.880 --> 00:31:27.359
Sounds good.
00:31:27.519 --> 00:31:28.240
Great talking to you.
00:31:28.480 --> 00:31:29.200
Yeah, you too.
00:31:29.359 --> 00:31:31.680
Keep me posted on any other research that comes out.
00:31:32.000 --> 00:31:32.480
We'll do.
00:31:32.559 --> 00:31:33.680
There will be more stories soon.
00:31:34.000 --> 00:31:35.119
Yeah, yeah.
00:31:35.200 --> 00:31:36.319
Please do, please do.
00:31:36.480 --> 00:31:37.519
Um, I love this stuff.
00:31:37.599 --> 00:31:38.799
So fantastic.
00:31:38.960 --> 00:31:39.200
Great.
00:31:39.440 --> 00:31:40.160
Talk to you later.
00:31:40.480 --> 00:31:41.279
Take care.
00:31:42.240 --> 00:31:42.880
All right.
00:31:43.279 --> 00:31:45.440
Thank you everybody for tuning in.
00:31:45.680 --> 00:31:55.920
Let me know what you thought in the comments or on social media or over email or wherever you want to state your opinion on smart underwear.
00:31:56.079 --> 00:31:56.960
I will read it.
00:31:57.440 --> 00:31:59.599
And if you learn something, share it with a friend.
00:32:00.160 --> 00:32:04.640
Usually people love underwear stuff and fart stuff.
00:32:04.720 --> 00:32:07.200
Um, I don't know why, but we just do.
00:32:07.680 --> 00:32:10.160
And now it's time for the closing quote.
00:32:10.319 --> 00:32:12.799
This one is from Kurt Von Gutt.
00:32:13.119 --> 00:32:14.240
Am I saying his name right?
00:32:14.640 --> 00:32:15.359
Von Gutt.
00:32:15.680 --> 00:32:16.000
Gut?
00:32:16.400 --> 00:32:18.000
That's funny for this one.
00:32:18.160 --> 00:32:19.599
All right, here's here's the quote.
00:32:20.319 --> 00:32:26.880
I tell you, we are here on earth to fart around and don't let anybody tell you different.
00:32:27.119 --> 00:32:27.920
Do you agree?
00:32:28.400 --> 00:32:29.599
I I kind of agree.
00:32:29.839 --> 00:32:35.039
I think that's what we are here for, but then people lose sight of that and take ourselves too seriously.
00:32:35.119 --> 00:32:43.119
Like, oh, we're gonna live forever, and this is the end all be all, and we're really just like a bunch of ants crawling in our little ant farm.
00:32:43.519 --> 00:32:47.119
Anyways, uh yeah, don't go home with that thought.
00:32:47.519 --> 00:32:53.039
Go out there and manifest, manifest good things, and I hope to see you here next time.
00:32:53.279 --> 00:32:55.039
Yeah, all that positive psychology stuff.
00:32:55.200 --> 00:32:56.160
Insert here.
00:32:56.400 --> 00:32:56.720
Okay.
00:32:57.279 --> 00:32:59.119
Uh goodbye for now.
00:00:00.320 --> 00:00:09.119
Welcome to the Causes or Cures Podcast, your gateway to understanding health and groundbreaking medical research in a fun and easy to understand way.
00:00:09.279 --> 00:00:09.679
With Dr.
00:00:09.839 --> 00:00:16.320
Eeks as your host, join us as we sit down with the world's leading doctors and scientists to unravel the mysteries of health.
00:00:16.480 --> 00:00:21.519
From practical tips on well-being to the latest breakthroughs in medical research, we cover it all.
00:00:21.679 --> 00:00:23.039
Don't forget to subscribe.
00:00:23.199 --> 00:00:28.160
Now, let's ignite our curiosity and together dive into today's episode.
00:00:30.239 --> 00:00:37.119
Hello, hello everybody, and thanks for joining in to this episode of Causes or Cures.
00:00:37.280 --> 00:00:37.679
I'm Dr.
00:00:37.840 --> 00:00:38.640
Ekes, your host.
00:00:38.799 --> 00:00:40.560
Hope you're doing well out there.
00:00:40.960 --> 00:00:42.880
So, underwear.
00:00:43.119 --> 00:00:44.000
Underwear?
00:00:44.640 --> 00:00:45.200
Under there.
00:00:45.520 --> 00:00:47.359
We're gonna talk about underwear today.
00:00:47.520 --> 00:00:49.600
We're not talking about dumb underwear.
00:00:49.679 --> 00:00:50.399
No, no, no.
00:00:50.560 --> 00:00:53.200
We are talking about smart underwear.
00:00:53.520 --> 00:00:56.799
Yes, smart underwear is a thing, you guys.
00:00:56.880 --> 00:00:57.600
It's a thing.
00:00:58.320 --> 00:01:01.039
In this episode, I'm talking with researcher Dr.
00:01:01.119 --> 00:01:11.040
Brantley Hall about a wearable device designed to continuously measure hydrogen gas produced by our gut microbes.
00:01:11.359 --> 00:01:13.439
Basically, it's measuring farts.
00:01:13.680 --> 00:01:15.040
Okay, that's the elevator pitch.
00:01:15.519 --> 00:01:21.040
And while the underwear part is admittedly fun, the bigger idea is pretty fascinating.
00:01:21.200 --> 00:01:28.000
A new way to watch how the gut microbiome responds to what we eat almost in real time.
00:01:28.239 --> 00:01:30.000
Smart underwear, you guys.
00:01:30.239 --> 00:01:37.840
So we get into how it works, what they learned, when people actually wore the device, and where this technology could eventually take us.
00:01:38.400 --> 00:01:42.319
Maybe by the end of this, you too will want a pair.
00:01:42.560 --> 00:01:44.640
Alright, so let's connect to Dr.
00:01:44.959 --> 00:01:47.840
Hall and learn more about smart underwear.
00:01:48.239 --> 00:01:49.280
Alright, everybody.
00:01:49.519 --> 00:01:52.400
We are connecting with Professor Brantley Hall.
00:01:52.480 --> 00:01:54.560
Brantley, thank you for joining in.
00:01:54.640 --> 00:01:58.480
And do you mind telling our listeners a little bit about yourself and what you do?
00:01:58.799 --> 00:01:59.359
Sure thing.
00:01:59.439 --> 00:02:01.840
So I'm a microbiologist at the University of Maryland.
00:02:02.000 --> 00:02:08.479
We mostly study human gut microbes, and we're truly fascinated by the chemistry that microbes perform in your gut.
00:02:08.639 --> 00:02:16.319
And that doesn't seem like immediately like farts, but one of the key outcomes of microbial metabolism in your gut is gas production.
00:02:16.400 --> 00:02:18.960
And you know, until today, this has been largely unmeasured.
00:02:19.039 --> 00:02:22.080
So that's one of the big gaps we're trying to solve in my lab at the University of Maryland.
00:02:22.319 --> 00:02:24.240
We've never measured farts before.
00:02:24.639 --> 00:02:25.520
Almost never.
00:02:25.759 --> 00:02:26.159
Wow.
00:02:27.120 --> 00:02:28.800
We can go into the technical details.
00:02:28.879 --> 00:02:32.800
I can describe in like a lot of detail what was measured and how it's not exactly farts.
00:02:32.879 --> 00:02:35.680
But yeah, farts have technically never been measured before.
00:02:36.000 --> 00:02:36.240
Okay.
00:02:36.400 --> 00:02:42.800
So when I first saw your paper and I saw some of the news articles, I'm like, smart underwear, like what is this?
00:02:43.039 --> 00:02:45.680
And then I said, I have to ask you to come on the podcast.
00:02:45.759 --> 00:02:49.280
And then I also have to ask you, like, how did you get this idea?
00:02:49.680 --> 00:02:52.560
Like Okay, well, there's a story there.
00:02:52.719 --> 00:02:59.280
Um, so we were trying to do this in vitro, um, just like growing microbes, and we're trying to measure the amount of hydrogen that they produced.
00:02:59.439 --> 00:03:02.479
And the microbes in your gut, they live in an anaerobic environment.
00:03:02.560 --> 00:03:03.840
There's no there's no oxygen around.
00:03:04.000 --> 00:03:06.400
And so we have to replicate that to grow them in vitro.
00:03:06.560 --> 00:03:12.960
So we were, you know, measuring hydrogen or at least trying to in our anaerobic chamber in my lab, and the hydrogen sensor never worked.
00:03:13.120 --> 00:03:17.039
It worked great outside of the anaerobic chamber, but it did not work in the anaerobic chamber.
00:03:17.280 --> 00:03:22.960
And so I got really frustrated with this one day, and I'm like, I'm gonna take it home over the weekend and I'm gonna fart on it.
00:03:23.039 --> 00:03:27.199
I'm gonna see if we can measure this microbial metabolate because it's the exact same thing we're trying to measure.
00:03:27.360 --> 00:03:32.000
And you know, it works great outside of the chamber, but it didn't work inside the anaerobic chamber.
00:03:32.080 --> 00:03:39.680
So we switched up instead of trying to do this like directly in microbes, we took a more human-centric approach and now we're like studying the phenomenon in humans.
00:03:40.000 --> 00:03:40.639
I love that.
00:03:40.719 --> 00:03:42.080
So you just took the one.
00:03:42.639 --> 00:03:42.960
100%.
00:03:43.840 --> 00:03:45.039
It's hysterical.
00:03:45.599 --> 00:03:53.120
Okay, but you know, and it sounds funny to people, and I get that, but like there's actually a connection here to something like scientific and that could help people.
00:03:53.199 --> 00:03:57.439
So, like if you were giving an elevator pitch, why smart underwear?
00:03:57.599 --> 00:03:59.280
Like, what's what's the big deal?
00:03:59.599 --> 00:04:02.479
One in five people report excess intestinal gas.
00:04:02.639 --> 00:04:03.599
There's no way to measure it.
00:04:03.680 --> 00:04:11.280
So you if you go to your doctor, we're stuck in like basically you know, the last century, they're gonna ask you from smiley face to frowny face, how bad is your gas?
00:04:11.520 --> 00:04:14.159
We think that gas production deserves to be measured.
00:04:14.319 --> 00:04:17.839
Just like we measure heart rate, like we measure postprennial glucose response.
00:04:18.000 --> 00:04:21.199
We should measure gas because it has a big effect on our health.
00:04:21.360 --> 00:04:22.560
It affects how we feel.
00:04:22.720 --> 00:04:26.000
If you have excess gas, it you know, um makes you think worse.
00:04:26.079 --> 00:04:28.480
You know, it kind of like makes you irritable.
00:04:28.560 --> 00:04:30.639
It it causes so many effects.
00:04:30.720 --> 00:04:34.639
And people talk about the gut brain axis, and this is one kind of communication strategy.
00:04:34.800 --> 00:04:41.439
The microbes, you know, it's a way that we feel what's going on in our digestive tract is the amount of gas and the sensation of bloating.
00:04:41.600 --> 00:04:45.040
And so there's like one of our problems is there's so many things related to this.
00:04:45.120 --> 00:04:46.639
It's kind of hard to answer just one.
00:04:46.800 --> 00:04:52.160
But I think in the future, we hope to kind of give a voice to people who show up with their doctor.
00:04:52.240 --> 00:04:53.920
They're like, I'm farting a hundred times a day.
00:04:54.079 --> 00:04:55.279
The doctor's like, no way.
00:04:55.439 --> 00:04:59.519
And we want to give this person like some objective data to show their doctor and say, I really am.
00:04:59.680 --> 00:05:03.680
This is this is my pattern, because right now it's based completely on subjective patient reports.
00:05:03.920 --> 00:05:10.879
And that's so interesting too, because I I don't remember like the last time I was asked that or offered that information at the doctor's office.
00:05:11.040 --> 00:05:12.319
But like, what is normal?
00:05:12.480 --> 00:05:20.079
Like if someone says they're farting five times a day, and or if someone says they're farting 50 times a day, like what what is a lot?
00:05:20.399 --> 00:05:20.639
Yeah.
00:05:20.720 --> 00:05:28.160
And so this is based on a very small study done in like the 1980s, but the number is 14 plus or minus six flattys per day.
00:05:28.319 --> 00:05:33.600
Now, this isn't actually a fart, though, because this study was done via rectal tubes.
00:05:33.680 --> 00:05:40.160
So they like had people in the office, they used a rectal tube and collected the gas and they kind of inferred farts from it.
00:05:40.399 --> 00:05:46.079
But I would note that like the rectum plays an important part in the actual kind of emergence of a flattus.
00:05:46.160 --> 00:05:49.519
And so I think a rectal tube bypasses one piece of it.
00:05:49.600 --> 00:05:56.879
So I don't even think that was truly the measurement of flatus, and it was in like two dozen people, and so like we we can do better in the 21st century.
00:05:57.600 --> 00:05:58.480
We can do better.
00:05:58.720 --> 00:06:01.120
I love that the emergence of Flatus.
00:06:01.439 --> 00:06:03.600
A flat is it Flatus or Flatus?
00:06:03.839 --> 00:06:06.959
I think you're supposed to say it Flatus, but like some people say it flatus.
00:06:07.199 --> 00:06:10.079
I I'm guilty of sometimes saying flatus because it was like flatulence.
00:06:10.160 --> 00:06:13.199
It's a it's but flatus is like I think what you should say.
00:06:13.279 --> 00:06:15.519
And like if you're in the UK, it's definitely Flatus.
00:06:15.680 --> 00:06:19.519
In the US, like people kind of like verge between Flatus and Flatus.
00:06:19.920 --> 00:06:24.480
Okay, so your device measures hydrogen and intestinal gas.
00:06:24.720 --> 00:06:26.639
So why hydrogen?
00:06:26.879 --> 00:06:30.879
What is that telling us about what the gut gut microbes are doing?
00:06:31.120 --> 00:06:32.000
Yeah, great question.
00:06:32.160 --> 00:06:36.639
So there's two major gases present in farts, um hydrogen and carbon dioxide.
00:06:36.800 --> 00:06:39.120
Carbon dioxide is also produced by humans.
00:06:39.199 --> 00:06:41.600
And so it's not a signal of microbial metabolism.
00:06:41.680 --> 00:06:42.560
It's not an exclusive signal.
00:06:42.639 --> 00:06:47.519
Like microbes produce it, but you know, there could be, you know, you could be standing behind a car or you could be breathing on it.
00:06:47.680 --> 00:06:49.680
So it's cross-sensitive to other things.
00:06:50.000 --> 00:06:53.120
But the amount of hydrogen that's present in a fart is extraordinary.
00:06:53.279 --> 00:06:56.000
There might be 30 to 50% hydrogen.
00:06:56.160 --> 00:07:02.879
And like you hope that you don't encounter any other environments with 30 to 50% hydrogen, because that's genuinely an explosive level.
00:07:03.040 --> 00:07:04.879
Actually, 4% is explosive.
00:07:05.120 --> 00:07:10.480
And so um, you really won't encounter 30 to 50% hydrogen anywhere else in the world.
00:07:10.720 --> 00:07:16.879
And so if you have such a high amount of hydrogen, it's an incredibly good signal for microbial metabolism.
00:07:16.959 --> 00:07:22.000
And so if there's hydrogen present in farts, it means your microbes in the gut are doing something.
00:07:22.319 --> 00:07:22.480
Okay.
00:07:22.720 --> 00:07:24.079
And is that good or bad?
00:07:24.240 --> 00:07:29.040
Like, is it do you want more or do you want less, or are we trying to get like optimal range?
00:07:29.279 --> 00:07:32.720
Yeah, there's not one answer that's going to apply to everyone.
00:07:32.959 --> 00:07:37.839
So there are people, you know, that are farting too much and want to fart less.
00:07:38.000 --> 00:07:42.079
There's people who have, you know, the sensation of trapped gas and want to fart more.
00:07:42.240 --> 00:07:43.759
There's the dimension of our diet.
00:07:44.000 --> 00:07:49.759
So like I could give someone a diet that makes them fart zero times a day, but that probably wouldn't be a healthy diet.
00:07:49.920 --> 00:07:55.920
And so like one of our major challenges right now is with our ultra-processed food is adding more fiber back into our diet.
00:07:56.160 --> 00:08:01.360
95% of Americans don't eat like enough fiber based on the FDA's recommended um amount.
00:08:01.519 --> 00:08:03.759
And so adding fiber is really important.
00:08:03.839 --> 00:08:09.199
It's you know so good for health, but at the same time, it's directly correlated with the production of flatus.
00:08:09.439 --> 00:08:15.519
And so you kind of you know could be eating a lot of fiber and farting 200 times a day, and you could feel very healthy.
00:08:15.680 --> 00:08:22.560
But what the most interesting thing is like we actually see these people, we call them Zen digesters, and we don't actually have a scientific explanation for this.
00:08:22.720 --> 00:08:32.639
They eat healthy high fiber diets, but don't fart much, which means that there's a microbial configuration out there, which supports a healthy high fiber diet without excess gas.
00:08:32.799 --> 00:08:44.080
And so those people are kind of, you know, what we're trying to kind of get to in other people, like tap figure out what that state is and how to like recreate that state in other people so they can eat healthy high fiber diets without farting.
00:08:44.399 --> 00:08:48.000
I'm gonna ask a really pedestrian grade school question here.
00:08:48.159 --> 00:08:49.039
Can you hold in?
00:08:49.200 --> 00:08:53.120
Can you actually hold in a fart and like not let it go?
00:08:53.279 --> 00:08:55.200
And are these based on self-report?
00:08:55.600 --> 00:09:04.879
So ours are based on objective, but um yeah, you can hold and some hydrogen is gonna diffuse across into circulation.
00:09:05.200 --> 00:09:08.399
And you breathe out some hydrogen produced by gut microbes.
00:09:08.559 --> 00:09:11.279
So you actually have farts in your breath, is like the way I like to say it.
00:09:11.440 --> 00:09:16.879
But hydrogen is very insoluble, and so not that much hydrogen like goes out.
00:09:17.200 --> 00:09:21.519
It might be like a considerable amount of the total, but it's very diluted in your breath.
00:09:21.600 --> 00:09:23.039
So there's not that much hydrogen.
00:09:23.200 --> 00:09:26.320
Is it possible to hold a fart and make it completely go away?
00:09:26.559 --> 00:09:27.200
Unknown.
00:09:27.440 --> 00:09:29.919
But do we see the pattern of people holding their farts?
00:09:30.080 --> 00:09:30.399
100%.
00:09:30.799 --> 00:09:37.200
There's like a very kind of famous example in our lab of someone who like this person was wearing the device for one week every day in a row.
00:09:37.360 --> 00:09:39.840
And during the weekdays, it was like very few farts.
00:09:39.919 --> 00:09:41.840
And on the weekend, it was like 50 farts a day.
00:09:42.000 --> 00:09:45.200
And we knew this person, so we could ask them like what's going on here.
00:09:45.360 --> 00:09:50.720
And she's like, Well, I feel so so self-conscious because I live with a roommate and I don't want to just be farting all the time.
00:09:50.879 --> 00:09:53.919
But like when I'm at home, I go home on the weekends, I just let them rip.
00:09:54.000 --> 00:09:55.279
I feel less self-conscious.
00:09:55.519 --> 00:09:57.360
And so we 100% see that pattern.
00:09:57.440 --> 00:10:05.919
And actually, when we are doing studies, we have people wear it on one weekday and one weekend day to kind of compensate for that um pattern people have.
00:10:06.240 --> 00:10:07.519
That's really interesting.
00:10:07.679 --> 00:10:10.159
But so you can't hold it in forever, it will come out.
00:10:10.559 --> 00:10:11.039
I think.
00:10:11.200 --> 00:10:11.600
I think.
00:10:11.759 --> 00:10:16.720
I mean, there could be a very edge case where you have very few VARDs overall and they're holding them in.
00:10:16.879 --> 00:10:19.840
But I think that's going to describe a very small portion of people.
00:10:20.080 --> 00:10:22.799
It's and science doesn't know the answer to that either.
00:10:22.879 --> 00:10:23.600
So, like, yeah.
00:10:23.679 --> 00:10:25.519
Um it's to me determined.
00:10:25.840 --> 00:10:27.519
More research is needed.
00:10:28.080 --> 00:10:30.879
So, one thing that surprised me about your paper.
00:10:31.039 --> 00:10:37.360
So, I people wore the device, like the smart underwear, for more than 11 hours a day.
00:10:37.600 --> 00:10:37.840
Yeah.
00:10:38.080 --> 00:10:41.679
So, okay, so to me that means like it's pretty comfortable.
00:10:41.840 --> 00:10:42.320
Oh yeah.
00:10:42.720 --> 00:10:49.360
So tell me about the process, what it took to make these underwear and to get people to wear them.
00:10:49.600 --> 00:10:49.840
All right.
00:10:49.919 --> 00:10:51.519
I'll hold up the very first version.
00:10:51.759 --> 00:10:52.399
Oh yes.
00:10:52.720 --> 00:10:54.080
It's it's good to show the progress.
00:10:54.240 --> 00:10:55.759
So this is the very first version.
00:10:55.919 --> 00:11:00.159
So there's like a belt clip, and then this big wire would go into your pants, and this would stick to your underwear.
00:11:00.240 --> 00:11:02.480
And so obviously, no one wanted to wear that.
00:11:02.639 --> 00:11:09.120
So we've done many hardware revisions over the last five years, and we've got it down to something that's about the size of a stack of nickels.
00:11:09.360 --> 00:11:10.879
And um, do you have a snap?
00:11:10.960 --> 00:11:12.720
I'll hold up the snap, my camera can focus.
00:11:12.799 --> 00:11:22.559
This might be audio only, but there's a snap, and the snap goes on the inside of the underwear, and the smart underwear goes on the outside, and you kind of just snap it in and it fits, you know, pretty, pretty comfortably.
00:11:22.720 --> 00:11:27.759
There's a space, we like to say adjacent to the perennium, kind of like near your butt.
00:11:27.919 --> 00:11:29.360
And there's space there.
00:11:29.440 --> 00:11:34.159
And if you find the right spot and center it in your underwear, you really won't feel it very well.
00:11:34.320 --> 00:11:39.440
If if it's uh like it's off-center, you will feel it, but if it's on center, you you won't feel it that much.
00:11:39.519 --> 00:11:45.279
And actually, like the the paper was with an older device, but with our newer device, we have people wear it 24 hours a day.
00:11:45.360 --> 00:11:46.000
And no barn.
00:11:46.720 --> 00:11:46.960
Yeah.
00:11:47.360 --> 00:11:48.480
Okay, so okay.
00:11:48.960 --> 00:11:50.799
So there goes my dog.
00:11:51.120 --> 00:11:52.080
No worries.
00:11:52.559 --> 00:11:53.919
Come here, Barnaby.
00:11:54.399 --> 00:11:55.519
There he goes again.
00:11:56.000 --> 00:11:56.799
Barnaby.
00:11:57.200 --> 00:12:00.320
All right, so were you hold on Barnaby?
00:12:00.720 --> 00:12:01.440
Barnaby.
00:12:01.759 --> 00:12:02.639
Barnabas.
00:12:04.320 --> 00:12:04.720
Sorry.
00:12:05.440 --> 00:12:06.159
No worries.
00:12:08.080 --> 00:12:10.799
Alright, now where did I Okay, okay, so you test it.
00:12:11.600 --> 00:12:17.919
Were you surprised that people were willing to wear it just because of the psychology around it, like measuring farts?
00:12:18.480 --> 00:12:19.039
Very much.
00:12:19.840 --> 00:12:23.279
And it's never been a problem to find people to wear it though.
00:12:23.519 --> 00:12:28.159
So when we launched our human flatus atlas study, we were thinking about how many devices should we make?
00:12:28.240 --> 00:12:31.039
And we we made 800, and we're like, oh, we'll never use all these.
00:12:31.360 --> 00:12:34.080
So 13,000 people have signed up so far.
00:12:34.399 --> 00:12:37.039
Um, and so we have an absolutely overwhelming demand.
00:12:37.120 --> 00:12:40.720
And I get emails from people every day um asking to be in the study.
00:12:40.799 --> 00:12:43.360
And so we're we're trying to make devices as fast as we can.
00:12:43.519 --> 00:12:55.679
Obviously, we won't be able to include all 13,000, but just based on the emails I get, there are people who are so motivated to understand like where they compare to the average and what is kind of triggering their flatulence patterns.
00:12:56.000 --> 00:12:58.799
And is it like men and women, all different ages?
00:12:59.120 --> 00:13:01.039
Perhaps women more than men, if we're being honest.
00:13:01.120 --> 00:13:02.159
Um really.
00:13:02.799 --> 00:13:03.039
Yeah.
00:13:03.279 --> 00:13:03.679
Wow.
00:13:03.840 --> 00:13:08.080
That's so because one of my questions was like, how who volunteered for this type of study?
00:13:08.159 --> 00:13:10.159
So you have no issues getting volunteers.
00:13:10.639 --> 00:13:13.919
We're we're our issues, we're completely overwhelmed by the amount of people emailing us.
00:13:14.080 --> 00:13:14.320
Yeah.
00:13:14.480 --> 00:13:15.279
Um, absolutely.
00:13:15.759 --> 00:13:29.200
One part of your paper that I loved when you wrote to address fire hazard concerns associated with lithium ion batteries, we redesigned the power system to use two silver oxide coin cell batteries just because that created such a funny image in my brain.
00:13:29.279 --> 00:13:34.559
Because I was like, oh my gosh, like if there's a fire in your underwear, like literally, that's what I thought of.
00:13:34.639 --> 00:13:35.279
So yeah.
00:13:35.519 --> 00:13:37.519
And it's it was a really big concern for us.
00:13:37.759 --> 00:13:40.639
I mean, I think there's the saying, you know, liar, liar, pants on fire.
00:13:40.720 --> 00:13:44.080
And we said that to ourselves a lot, and we didn't want that to happen to anyone.
00:13:44.320 --> 00:13:47.600
So um we've we've done a ton of engineering around making the battery safe.
00:13:47.679 --> 00:13:54.960
And like when now it's like encased in like a metal case, and there's like multiple chips on the PCB that make sure that it doesn't short and overpower or overheat.
00:13:55.039 --> 00:13:57.039
And so, yeah, there's never been any issues.
00:13:57.120 --> 00:13:59.039
Um, we were just trying to, you know, be safe.
00:13:59.120 --> 00:14:01.919
And so we we've we've been able to succeed in that part.
00:14:02.000 --> 00:14:02.240
Yeah.
00:14:02.320 --> 00:14:04.080
No one's ever had a battery issue.
00:14:04.480 --> 00:14:10.799
So you were able to detect changes after participants ate inulin, which is a type of dietary fiber.
00:14:10.960 --> 00:14:13.120
So can you tell our listeners a little bit about that?
00:14:13.200 --> 00:14:16.080
Like you were like, oh, yeah, this thing works.
00:14:16.480 --> 00:14:16.879
Exactly.
00:14:17.039 --> 00:14:19.919
And the design of this study was literally just to say that this works.
00:14:20.080 --> 00:14:22.639
And so inulin is a very common fiber.
00:14:22.720 --> 00:14:24.320
It's made from chicory roots.
00:14:24.480 --> 00:14:30.960
And if you eat like a fiber one bar or a lot of foods that have added fiber, um, inulin is probably going to be the fiber that you eat.
00:14:31.120 --> 00:14:35.519
And in our testing, inulin probably causes more gas than most other fibers.
00:14:35.600 --> 00:14:36.639
So it's pretty gassy.
00:14:36.799 --> 00:14:41.039
So we just designed a study to contrast a no fiber versus high fiber diet.
00:14:41.120 --> 00:14:44.879
And the hypothesis was if smart out where is working in, we could detect that difference.
00:14:45.039 --> 00:14:49.759
And so we fed people dots candy and we found these Amazon fiber gummies that looked just like dots.
00:14:49.840 --> 00:14:51.440
So they were actually blinded to it.
00:14:51.600 --> 00:14:53.039
Um dots are terrible, actually.
00:14:53.120 --> 00:14:57.200
What was concerning is the Amazon fiber gummies were more delicious than the got the dots.
00:14:57.360 --> 00:14:59.200
So um, yeah, dots are terrible.
00:14:59.279 --> 00:15:00.240
But we had these two things.
00:15:00.320 --> 00:15:01.679
So that it was single blinded.
00:15:01.919 --> 00:15:08.480
We had people eat dots one day, and then these Amazon fiber gummies with six grams of anulin this the second day, and we compared the amount of farts.
00:15:08.559 --> 00:15:17.600
And very, very, you know, fortunately for us, and 36 out of 38 people, there were more farts on the you know day with the fiber than the day with just the regular dots.
00:15:17.679 --> 00:15:21.039
And so we are able to confirm, you know, we were very good at detecting farts.
00:15:21.519 --> 00:15:22.879
Very good at detecting farts.
00:15:23.039 --> 00:15:23.360
Wow.
00:15:23.600 --> 00:15:25.919
Did anything surprise you from your results?
00:15:26.159 --> 00:15:27.759
Oh my goodness, so many things surprised me.
00:15:27.840 --> 00:15:32.639
Um so I mean, this was complete scientific unknown.
00:15:32.799 --> 00:15:40.240
Uh so there we saw the first signs of the Zen digester in the study, in the very first study, but like people who were eating a lot but not farting a lot.
00:15:40.399 --> 00:15:41.840
That was like strange.
00:15:42.000 --> 00:15:44.240
Um, not the scientific prediction.
00:15:44.480 --> 00:15:47.600
We were surprised by how many times people were farting in the paper.
00:15:47.759 --> 00:15:54.799
Um, our person was like 59 times a day on average, but now we're up to like over 200 times a day on people are farting.
00:15:55.039 --> 00:16:02.080
And like imagine going to your doctor who read the medical definition, 14 plus or minus six, and you're like, hello, I'm farting 200 times a day.
00:16:02.320 --> 00:16:03.120
What are they gonna think?
00:16:03.200 --> 00:16:04.320
They're gonna think you're crazy.
00:16:04.480 --> 00:16:10.639
I was actually giving a talk at a medical school um like last month, and I I it was to like younger doctors, like residents and fellows.
00:16:10.720 --> 00:16:16.240
And I asked them, like in your medical school that they were in recently, how many times a day did they tell you people would fart?
00:16:16.480 --> 00:16:20.960
And actually, no one had learned about how many times it's normal either, which is an interesting thing.
00:16:21.039 --> 00:16:24.000
Um, and so yeah, that was extremely fascinating.
00:16:24.240 --> 00:16:26.080
We we were also fascinated by the patterns.
00:16:26.240 --> 00:16:27.039
I could go on forever.
00:16:27.120 --> 00:16:28.000
I'll I'll wrap this up.
00:16:28.080 --> 00:16:33.279
But a lot of people have these postprandial farts, and so it's like they eat and then they fart kind of shortly afterwards.
00:16:33.360 --> 00:16:44.159
And it's probably not the gas from the meal that they just consumed, but it's kind of like gas that's stored in their gut, and then the gastrocolic reflex becomes active after you eat, and like that gas is kind of passed shortly after.
00:16:44.240 --> 00:16:50.399
So we were kind of surprised at the patterns of this gastrocolic reflex that we could see um kind of in farts as well.
00:16:50.720 --> 00:16:59.200
Okay, I'm gonna ask another kindergarten-like question, but just because I have you on the line here, you did nothing with like the smell of the fart.
00:16:59.279 --> 00:17:03.759
Like, does the hydrogen gas correspond with the smell?
00:17:03.919 --> 00:17:06.400
I know that was not part of your work, but I'm just curious.
00:17:06.880 --> 00:17:07.200
Great question.
00:17:07.359 --> 00:17:12.319
And we we actually have a an NIH grant on like this exact topic, measuring hydrogen sulfide and flattus.
00:17:12.480 --> 00:17:15.279
Um, so there's there's I'll I'll gonna give a hedge though.
00:17:15.359 --> 00:17:17.039
So as a scientist, you always have to hedge.
00:17:17.119 --> 00:17:20.720
There's there's multiple molecules that contribute to the odor of flatulence.
00:17:20.880 --> 00:17:23.440
Um, there's volatile sulfur compounds.
00:17:23.599 --> 00:17:27.119
The most abundant is hydrogen sulfide, and it has a rotten egg smell.
00:17:27.279 --> 00:17:29.119
And then it gets kind of they get larger.
00:17:29.200 --> 00:17:32.319
So there's methane thiol, so it's like CH3SH.
00:17:32.640 --> 00:17:35.599
And that one smells more like rotten cabbage.
00:17:35.680 --> 00:17:40.240
Like if you got like kemchi in your refrigerator and like open the refrigerator, that smell.
00:17:40.480 --> 00:17:44.480
And then the larger um volatile sulfur compounds have more of like a burnt rubber smell.
00:17:44.559 --> 00:17:48.400
If someone like did like a burnout in their car in front of your house, kind of like that smell.
00:17:48.559 --> 00:17:54.799
So I think the rotten egg smell and like the rotten cabbage smell are the most common kind of like um, you know, fart smells.
00:17:54.960 --> 00:17:56.559
But there's also amines.
00:17:56.960 --> 00:18:02.720
Um, and there's um molecules like scatol and spermidine that have some weird smells.
00:18:02.880 --> 00:18:07.039
And then there's this molecule called Endol, which is it's a fascinating molecule.
00:18:07.200 --> 00:18:12.319
It kind of has what people report to be a fecal odor, but um it's also used in perfume.
00:18:12.480 --> 00:18:13.359
And I smelled it.
00:18:13.440 --> 00:18:15.920
I made a bunch of different concentrations of it and smelled it.
00:18:16.079 --> 00:18:20.160
I don't think it smells good in any concentration, so it's very strange that they're using it in perfume.
00:18:20.240 --> 00:18:24.480
But so those are some of the molecules that like kind of lend farts their their odor.
00:18:24.640 --> 00:18:27.920
But these are like incredibly low abundance compared to hydrogen.
00:18:28.079 --> 00:18:33.200
There might be like one ppm hydrogen sulfide versus 200,000 ppm hydrogen.
00:18:33.359 --> 00:18:36.000
So our noses are just really good at detecting it.
00:18:36.079 --> 00:18:43.759
Um I I this is a hypothesis, but I would say that humans are probably adapted towards smelling rotten food and avoiding rotten food.
00:18:44.000 --> 00:18:48.160
I mean, imagine our ancestors and they're trying to like figure out is this you know safe to eat or unsafe to eat.
00:18:48.480 --> 00:18:51.200
And hydrogen sulfide is a pretty good signal of of decay.
00:18:51.359 --> 00:18:57.279
And so we're very, very sensitive at like PPB levels to hydrogen sulfide and methane thyl.
00:18:57.519 --> 00:18:59.440
And so those are kind of the main molecules.
00:18:59.599 --> 00:19:00.880
But we can measure them.
00:19:00.960 --> 00:19:04.720
Um, we haven't published our study about this yet, but it's uh we'll follow up maybe next year.
00:19:04.799 --> 00:19:04.960
Yeah.
00:19:05.200 --> 00:19:06.079
Yeah, definitely.
00:19:06.160 --> 00:19:08.160
I I'm I'm curious about that.
00:19:08.799 --> 00:19:10.880
And that that's such a great hypothesis.
00:19:11.200 --> 00:19:23.119
What you just said about, you know, kind of like how we evolved and then why we like run into the other room if somebody farts like that, or like you don't want to be the person to do that, and everybody wants to avoid you.
00:19:23.279 --> 00:19:23.519
Yeah.
00:19:23.759 --> 00:19:30.480
There's a lot of social interactions involved when it comes to farting and like shame and embarrassment and and humor too.
00:19:30.559 --> 00:19:31.599
Um I think so.
00:19:31.759 --> 00:19:31.920
Yeah.
00:19:32.160 --> 00:19:42.240
And I think our culture is kind of puritanical and it's like treatment of farts that it's like, you know, we're like a quiet culture, and it's like very rude to be loud and interrupt and be smelly.
00:19:42.400 --> 00:19:48.319
But I think in other cultures they have a much more kind of let it rip attitude, and it'll just be like farting at the table and like it's okay.
00:19:48.480 --> 00:19:52.720
And so there's like a cult cultural dimension of of fart acceptance as well.
00:19:52.880 --> 00:19:59.119
Um, so I I I people love to talk about it in different cultures and like what their family's like or what they're, you know, like in their home country, what it's like.
00:19:59.200 --> 00:20:00.000
And it's very different.
00:20:00.480 --> 00:20:04.000
Where what country could you just like fart freely and feel proud?
00:20:04.240 --> 00:20:05.599
Loud and proud.
00:20:06.000 --> 00:20:08.000
So this person was from Southeast Asia.
00:20:08.160 --> 00:20:08.799
Um yeah.
00:20:09.119 --> 00:20:10.640
Oh, okay, okay.
00:20:10.720 --> 00:20:11.599
You're so right though.
00:20:11.680 --> 00:20:15.920
Like, yeah, here we're just like, oh, don't fart, don't do it, it'll ruin your social life.
00:20:16.000 --> 00:20:16.400
Yeah.
00:20:16.480 --> 00:20:19.680
Um, which is crazy, which is crazy because it's something that we have to do.
00:20:20.079 --> 00:20:29.680
But so so and from your research, it sounds like two people can eat like the exact same thing, and then their smart underwear are gonna show different measurements.
00:20:30.000 --> 00:20:30.880
Yeah, totally.
00:20:31.119 --> 00:20:32.640
And that was very surprising to us.
00:20:32.720 --> 00:20:33.680
We we didn't expect it.
00:20:34.000 --> 00:20:43.359
But and even between the same person between different days, like there were people who farted a hundredfold more on the Inulin day than on the sham day.
00:20:43.440 --> 00:20:48.319
So, like just by changing what you eat, you can fart a hundred times more one day versus another.
00:20:48.799 --> 00:20:49.200
Awesome.
00:20:49.359 --> 00:20:51.279
So, what what does this tell us?
00:20:51.359 --> 00:20:55.200
Uh yeah, so it gives you an idea of what your gut microbiome is up to.
00:20:55.359 --> 00:21:00.720
So that those people um who are farting a lot, their microbiomes are very active, they're metabolizing and producing hydrogen.
00:21:01.200 --> 00:21:03.759
This can lead to like overall physiological effects.
00:21:04.160 --> 00:21:20.079
So there's this gut brain axis phenomenon where if you have repeated distension of your GI tract, it can lead to sensitization, and then you become kind of like aware of normal amounts of gas to where you like, you become normal amounts of gas become painful.
00:21:20.240 --> 00:21:22.799
And that's a disorder called visceral hypersensitivity.
00:21:23.039 --> 00:21:29.039
Um, and so a lot of people with IBS actually have this disorder of on the gut brain axis called visceral hypersensitivity.
00:21:29.200 --> 00:21:40.079
And it's it's a big problem because these people will show up to their doctor and they're like, I'm farting a ton, but they're not actually farting a ton, but the doctor doesn't know how much they're actually farting because this is just the patient reported value.
00:21:40.240 --> 00:21:42.240
And so they can't get them the right treatment.
00:21:42.319 --> 00:21:47.279
And so we want to stratify people into like true high farters and actually low farters, but perceived high farts.
00:21:47.359 --> 00:21:50.319
And those people are going to get different kinds of like treatment regimens.
00:21:50.640 --> 00:21:51.119
Oh, wow.
00:21:51.200 --> 00:21:52.400
That's that's so interesting.
00:21:52.640 --> 00:21:56.400
Now, you'll hear someone complain of being bloated, right?
00:21:56.559 --> 00:21:59.039
And is that, but then you hear different things about bloat.
00:21:59.119 --> 00:22:01.839
You'll hear like, oh, Caused by too much cortisol.
00:22:02.160 --> 00:22:07.599
But cortisol, I'm sure, and you'll know more about this than I do, connects to the microbiome.
00:22:07.759 --> 00:22:11.920
But like, does that mean that you have a lot of gas when you're bloated?
00:22:12.240 --> 00:22:12.960
Not necessarily.
00:22:13.119 --> 00:22:17.359
Bloat is such a complicated phenomenon, and it's very annoying for gastroenterologists.
00:22:17.759 --> 00:22:23.279
I think this is a really good use of this more underwear, is identifying whether excess gas is going to be a cause of bloating in that person.
00:22:23.440 --> 00:22:27.039
So some people who are bloated truly will have a lot of excess gas.
00:22:27.200 --> 00:22:28.400
But some won't.
00:22:28.559 --> 00:22:37.599
Some will have other reasons like cortisol or, you know, like, you know, other other um constipation or some other issues, and even just like not actually even be bloated objectively.
00:22:37.680 --> 00:22:38.720
They just feel bloated.
00:22:38.799 --> 00:22:40.799
And so they they have the perception of bloating.
00:22:41.039 --> 00:22:46.799
And so um, this is kind of a a problem that doctors have because like you show up and they're like, are you bloated now?
00:22:46.880 --> 00:22:48.960
And it's like, no, I'll I'll be bloated later.
00:22:49.119 --> 00:22:52.240
And then like, but you're not bloated there, so they can't really evaluate it.
00:22:52.319 --> 00:23:07.839
Um there's even this like crazy disease, abdominophrenic dysynergia, where there's like a disorder of the muscles in in your kind of belly, and you wake up and your stomach's flat, but like by the end of the night, you look pregnant, and um, it's not related to gas production.
00:23:07.920 --> 00:23:10.240
It's bloating, but it's not related to gas production.
00:23:10.400 --> 00:23:12.160
And so there's a lot going on there.
00:23:12.400 --> 00:23:17.759
Um and the smart underwear can be useful in stratifying these people and understanding what is the cause of their bloating.
00:23:18.079 --> 00:23:22.880
Okay, so tell me what do you see smart underwear being used for?
00:23:22.960 --> 00:23:26.720
It sounds like you're in the research stage still.
00:23:27.039 --> 00:23:27.200
Yeah.
00:23:27.519 --> 00:23:29.920
But like, okay, so where do you see where do you see this going?
00:23:30.480 --> 00:23:33.519
Yeah, so I mean, it's very, very useful in research projects.
00:23:33.599 --> 00:23:48.640
And in fact, I'm involved in so many collaborations now um where people are feeding participants and trying to see like the amount of gas and how that relates to other phenomena, or even seeing whether um participants are actually following a diet.
00:23:48.799 --> 00:23:53.440
So if you give someone a very strict diet, an exclusion diet, and they're fighting a lot, they're not following the diet.
00:23:53.519 --> 00:23:55.839
So it gives you kind of an idea of compliance with the diet.
00:23:56.000 --> 00:23:57.839
So there's that research dimension.
00:23:58.079 --> 00:23:58.640
Yeah.
00:23:58.960 --> 00:24:04.160
There's a big kind of change in the prebiotic industry or the fiber industry that's going on right now.
00:24:04.319 --> 00:24:13.039
You know, it was previously like psyllium and enulin were the major fiber ingredients, but those were kind of like chosen because they were cheap and they're not really good.
00:24:13.200 --> 00:24:18.079
And so now we're finding better fibers and prebiotics that we can add to food.
00:24:18.240 --> 00:24:25.279
And we're working with the kind of ingredient companies to help verify, you know, whether these are good, what dose you need, is it better than enulin or not?
00:24:25.359 --> 00:24:27.039
So there's that kind of like research use.
00:24:27.279 --> 00:24:35.759
But we think uh kind of a direct consumer use could also be something really interesting where people kind of like a microbiome test, people are very curious about themselves.
00:24:36.000 --> 00:24:37.680
And it's like a journey of self-discovery.
00:24:37.759 --> 00:24:40.640
It's like, what are my fart patterns like compared to other people?
00:24:40.880 --> 00:24:43.759
You know, if I eat like a lot of apples, do I fart a lot, or is it like garlic?
00:24:43.839 --> 00:24:53.440
Like a lot of people say I fart a ton after garlic, but you know, you could you know buy one of the devices and like eat different foods, and we could help you understand like the triggers that lead to your gas production.
00:24:53.599 --> 00:24:57.359
And so and even understand the kind of alignment of your gut-brain axis.
00:24:57.440 --> 00:25:07.200
Um so we would like ask people how much do you think you're farting, and then like measure how much they actually are farting, and be like, oh, well, you know, you're you're right on, or wait, you're vastly overreporting the number of farts you have.
00:25:07.359 --> 00:25:08.640
Like you're you're this is normal.
00:25:08.720 --> 00:25:10.160
Just like kind of like relax.
00:25:10.240 --> 00:25:17.039
And that's like sounds small, but like that's what a lot of people are looking for when they they kind of seek care from their gastroenterologists.
00:25:17.200 --> 00:25:23.920
Like, just this is normal because it's something we don't talk about, and something so stigmatized, and so like understanding that like where they sit is really important.
00:25:24.000 --> 00:25:26.079
So I could keep going, but I'm gonna I'm gonna stop there.
00:25:26.160 --> 00:25:26.880
There's many uses.
00:25:27.119 --> 00:25:28.400
Yeah, no, no, I love that.
00:25:28.480 --> 00:25:34.000
And I I just remember when when I was in med school, like you might ask someone after surgery, like, are you passing gas?
00:25:34.160 --> 00:25:38.079
But then it was like you don't really talk about like exactly, and it's always embarrassing.
00:25:38.160 --> 00:25:43.200
We're actually doing a study exactly on that, um the post-surgical part part resumption.
00:25:43.279 --> 00:25:45.680
Um that's a that's a brilliant, yeah.
00:25:45.759 --> 00:25:51.440
And that would be that's actually you know, just in terms of like, oh yeah, there's not an obstruction or something, or like this person, yeah.
00:25:51.519 --> 00:25:52.400
Oh, that's exactly fun.
00:25:52.960 --> 00:25:53.359
Exactly.
00:25:53.599 --> 00:25:57.039
That would have to be a medical device, and so that would have to undergo approval.
00:25:57.279 --> 00:25:59.359
Um so there's a kind of bigger barrier to that.
00:26:00.079 --> 00:26:03.039
But we're 100% investigating whether it'd be interesting.
00:26:03.359 --> 00:26:04.480
Um, I love that.
00:26:04.559 --> 00:26:07.200
Now, would no a consumer can't get this right now.
00:26:07.359 --> 00:26:10.319
Smart underwear, like you can't go to Amazon and get smart underwear.
00:26:10.640 --> 00:26:11.039
Not yet.
00:26:11.200 --> 00:26:14.000
But um but we're like it's coming.
00:26:14.240 --> 00:26:14.960
We it's coming, yeah.
00:26:15.119 --> 00:26:17.599
We have a spin-out company, and um we're gonna launch.
00:26:17.680 --> 00:26:23.519
I can't I can't name the details yet, but um we're gonna launch this fall and it will be a companion to a microbiome test.
00:26:23.680 --> 00:26:32.720
So you can do a stool microbiome test and then see how your farts relate to the microbes live in your gut and kind of kind of really good synergy between the two types of tests.
00:26:32.880 --> 00:26:34.480
So um expect to see something.
00:26:34.640 --> 00:26:38.640
It would be ultra exclusive at first, like just a few hundred people, but um, you know, yeah.
00:26:38.720 --> 00:26:42.160
No, people are are really like buggy me really hard to buy it.
00:26:42.240 --> 00:26:43.839
And so we're gonna try to make them, yeah.
00:26:44.079 --> 00:26:45.519
Oh no, I love that.
00:26:45.759 --> 00:26:48.640
So what is you got a lot of media attention?
00:26:48.880 --> 00:27:00.079
I'm just what what has been like what headline made you kind of like raise an eyebrow or laugh, or if did you see something out there where you're like, oh my gosh, that's right, or oh my gosh, that's wrong.
00:27:00.400 --> 00:27:01.519
There's been so much good coverage.
00:27:01.599 --> 00:27:03.599
My favorite headline is Fitbit for Farts.
00:27:03.759 --> 00:27:05.200
And so that was in the Wall Street Journal.
00:27:05.279 --> 00:27:06.480
I think that's a good name.
00:27:06.640 --> 00:27:07.759
Fitbit for Farts, yeah.
00:27:08.160 --> 00:27:09.759
It gives you a good idea of what it is.
00:27:09.839 --> 00:27:11.039
That that's my favorite one.
00:27:11.119 --> 00:27:17.759
But um several journalists actually like wore the device and and did several trials um with with them and like ate different foods.
00:27:17.839 --> 00:27:20.720
And so those were my favorite ones when people people used it.
00:27:21.039 --> 00:27:23.920
I think it's in I think it would be a very interesting self-test.
00:27:24.000 --> 00:27:25.519
Like I would do it, honestly.
00:27:25.680 --> 00:27:29.359
But if you have an extra device lying around with it, 100%.
00:27:29.759 --> 00:27:34.960
I mean, we can send you one and you can show the results and you know look, you know, tell tell your reviewers how much you're farting.
00:27:35.279 --> 00:27:40.480
I'm not, I think it's super interesting what you're doing, and uh it's awesome that you created this.
00:27:40.720 --> 00:27:46.720
I'm I'm usually not like a person who monitors everything because like I feel like I could become too obsessive about it.
00:27:46.799 --> 00:27:58.799
And I I do, I let like a lot of things go, but um, I think this is very interesting in terms of like microbiome and nutrition and just seeing because sometimes you'll be like, Oh, why do I feel so gaseous today?
00:27:58.880 --> 00:28:00.079
Like, what did I think about?
00:28:00.400 --> 00:28:01.039
Yeah, yeah.
00:28:01.279 --> 00:28:03.200
We've all had that day, and like what did we eat?
00:28:03.279 --> 00:28:03.519
Exactly.
00:28:03.759 --> 00:28:04.160
Yeah, yeah.
00:28:04.240 --> 00:28:05.920
Or like, is something wrong with me?
00:28:06.079 --> 00:28:09.359
Um, so do you tell people now that you invented smart underwear?
00:28:09.599 --> 00:28:10.160
For sure.
00:28:10.400 --> 00:28:11.200
Yeah, absolutely.
00:28:11.279 --> 00:28:13.519
Yeah, that's like your tagline.
00:28:14.000 --> 00:28:17.599
I mean, we we've done many cool things in my lab, um, found many important enzymes as well.
00:28:17.680 --> 00:28:19.279
But yeah, unfortunately, like Dr.
00:28:19.440 --> 00:28:21.119
Fart is the one that's catching up with me right now.
00:28:21.200 --> 00:28:22.160
That's the Doctor.
00:28:22.400 --> 00:28:23.599
How do you feel about that?
00:28:23.920 --> 00:28:24.480
It's fine.
00:28:24.559 --> 00:28:26.079
I I'm not offended by it at all.
00:28:26.240 --> 00:28:30.160
I think people people always want to make fart jokes to me, but they're like scared that I'm gonna be offended.
00:28:30.240 --> 00:28:32.000
I'm like, I love fart jokes, like have at it.
00:28:32.079 --> 00:28:33.519
Like, so no problem here.
00:28:34.079 --> 00:28:35.119
What's your favorite fart joke?
00:28:35.279 --> 00:28:35.759
Do you have one?
00:28:35.839 --> 00:28:38.240
Or it's more like a fart story.
00:28:38.480 --> 00:28:47.839
So there is a court jester who became like went from not owning land to owning land in England based on his fart performances.
00:28:47.920 --> 00:28:49.440
His name was Roland the Farter.
00:28:49.759 --> 00:28:50.319
I love that.
00:28:50.400 --> 00:28:52.559
So he his farts actually helped him find success.
00:28:52.880 --> 00:28:53.200
That's right.
00:28:54.240 --> 00:28:58.799
He was a court jester who became like a landed noble based on his farting ability.
00:28:59.039 --> 00:29:00.240
I my god.
00:29:00.880 --> 00:29:07.039
All right, so there was no dream too uh small or too that's good for him.
00:29:07.200 --> 00:29:07.599
Wow.
00:29:08.079 --> 00:29:10.160
All right, um, keep studying, kids.
00:29:10.319 --> 00:29:11.359
No, just kidding, guys.
00:29:14.240 --> 00:29:20.960
And you're doing a lot of research, and that sounds and then we might be able one day, smart underwear might be on Amazon.
00:29:21.200 --> 00:29:21.759
Absolutely.
00:29:21.920 --> 00:29:22.160
Yeah.
00:29:22.319 --> 00:29:23.200
I I love that, Brent.
00:29:23.440 --> 00:29:23.839
This is cool.
00:29:23.920 --> 00:29:24.480
Thank you so much.
00:29:24.559 --> 00:29:25.839
I think it's great what you're doing.
00:29:26.160 --> 00:29:26.480
Thank you.
00:29:26.640 --> 00:29:27.039
Yeah, yeah.
00:29:27.359 --> 00:29:28.000
Glad to be here.
00:29:28.240 --> 00:29:28.880
Absolutely.
00:29:29.119 --> 00:29:32.319
Is there anything else my listeners should know or check out?
00:29:32.480 --> 00:29:34.799
I'm I'm gonna include the link to the study for sure.
00:29:34.960 --> 00:29:35.200
Yeah.
00:29:35.440 --> 00:29:40.079
You can still sign up at flatist.info, f l-a t-us.info um if you want to.
00:29:40.240 --> 00:29:45.519
We we do have a pretty big backlog, but if you sign up, you can kind of get on the list for the you know next studies.
00:29:45.599 --> 00:29:47.759
We're we're gonna make thousands of devices and send them out.
00:29:47.839 --> 00:29:51.599
So if you sign up, you can get on the list and get notified when when more devices are coming out.
00:29:51.680 --> 00:29:52.240
We we love it.
00:29:52.400 --> 00:29:53.680
Flatisinfo.com.
00:29:53.839 --> 00:29:55.279
You didn't flattis.info, yeah.
00:29:55.359 --> 00:29:56.240
Just flatus.info.
00:29:56.960 --> 00:29:58.400
You didn't do fart.info.
00:29:58.720 --> 00:30:01.039
I I tried, but it was it was already taken.
00:30:01.200 --> 00:30:03.920
Um I won't I wonder who has that.
00:30:04.240 --> 00:30:07.039
It's not it's not a live webpage, if my memory serves me.
00:30:07.119 --> 00:30:12.160
It's just the oh did you try to find them and buy the it was listed for thousands of dollars, yeah.
00:30:12.559 --> 00:30:12.960
Forget it, yeah.
00:30:13.200 --> 00:30:16.079
This is a university project, can't afford an expensive domain.
00:30:16.160 --> 00:30:18.160
But I think Flatus.info is a really good one.
00:30:18.240 --> 00:30:20.880
So it's you know, only five letters or nine letters total.
00:30:21.039 --> 00:30:22.640
No, you'll Flatus, it's it's memorable.
00:30:22.799 --> 00:30:23.839
Flatis.info.
00:30:24.000 --> 00:30:24.559
All right, all right.
00:30:24.640 --> 00:30:26.319
Maybe some listeners will check it out then.
00:30:26.559 --> 00:30:27.039
Absolutely.
00:30:27.440 --> 00:30:28.160
Thanks for joining.
00:30:28.319 --> 00:30:29.519
Um good for you.
00:30:29.680 --> 00:30:30.640
You're gonna become really rich.
00:30:31.519 --> 00:30:32.319
I don't think so.
00:30:32.799 --> 00:30:34.480
Well, would you be a fart millionaire?
00:30:34.559 --> 00:30:35.839
It's like you would tell people that.
00:30:36.079 --> 00:30:37.119
Yes, yes.
00:30:37.440 --> 00:30:40.000
I remember um, did you watch the show Frasier?
00:30:40.160 --> 00:30:41.119
Oh, of course, yeah.
00:30:41.359 --> 00:30:45.599
And I think that Niall's wife became rich from urinal cakes.
00:30:45.920 --> 00:30:50.960
But she told everyone she was rich from timber, but in fact, like she became rich from urinal cakes.
00:30:51.119 --> 00:30:53.359
I I think about that story sometimes.
00:30:53.599 --> 00:30:56.880
It's like I'm not embarrassed to tell people about farts though, so it's fine.
00:30:57.119 --> 00:31:02.799
No, I think and why would if it makes you super rich, you're gonna like farts measuring farts.
00:31:03.200 --> 00:31:05.440
That's that's good, it could go down in the history books.
00:31:05.759 --> 00:31:07.599
I mean, I think it's just an important thing we measure.
00:31:07.680 --> 00:31:12.160
I mean, think about all the aspects of human physiology that we measure, and we learn stuff from all of them.
00:31:12.240 --> 00:31:13.920
Like, I think there's something to learn here too.
00:31:14.160 --> 00:31:15.759
Yeah, oh no, for sure there is.
00:31:15.839 --> 00:31:16.960
You shouldn't be embarrassed at all.
00:31:17.039 --> 00:31:18.960
You'll be laughing on the way to the bank.
00:31:19.200 --> 00:31:21.119
Laughing and farting on the way to the bank.
00:31:21.359 --> 00:31:22.319
That's very kind.
00:31:23.519 --> 00:31:26.559
Um, but thanks for your time, and I'll follow follow up on email.
00:31:26.880 --> 00:31:27.359
Sounds good.
00:31:27.519 --> 00:31:28.240
Great talking to you.
00:31:28.480 --> 00:31:29.200
Yeah, you too.
00:31:29.359 --> 00:31:31.680
Keep me posted on any other research that comes out.
00:31:32.000 --> 00:31:32.480
We'll do.
00:31:32.559 --> 00:31:33.680
There will be more stories soon.
00:31:34.000 --> 00:31:35.119
Yeah, yeah.
00:31:35.200 --> 00:31:36.319
Please do, please do.
00:31:36.480 --> 00:31:37.519
Um, I love this stuff.
00:31:37.599 --> 00:31:38.799
So fantastic.
00:31:38.960 --> 00:31:39.200
Great.
00:31:39.440 --> 00:31:40.160
Talk to you later.
00:31:40.480 --> 00:31:41.279
Take care.
00:31:42.240 --> 00:31:42.880
All right.
00:31:43.279 --> 00:31:45.440
Thank you everybody for tuning in.
00:31:45.680 --> 00:31:55.920
Let me know what you thought in the comments or on social media or over email or wherever you want to state your opinion on smart underwear.
00:31:56.079 --> 00:31:56.960
I will read it.
00:31:57.440 --> 00:31:59.599
And if you learn something, share it with a friend.
00:32:00.160 --> 00:32:04.640
Usually people love underwear stuff and fart stuff.
00:32:04.720 --> 00:32:07.200
Um, I don't know why, but we just do.
00:32:07.680 --> 00:32:10.160
And now it's time for the closing quote.
00:32:10.319 --> 00:32:12.799
This one is from Kurt Von Gutt.
00:32:13.119 --> 00:32:14.240
Am I saying his name right?
00:32:14.640 --> 00:32:15.359
Von Gutt.
00:32:15.680 --> 00:32:16.000
Gut?
00:32:16.400 --> 00:32:18.000
That's funny for this one.
00:32:18.160 --> 00:32:19.599
All right, here's here's the quote.
00:32:20.319 --> 00:32:26.880
I tell you, we are here on earth to fart around and don't let anybody tell you different.
00:32:27.119 --> 00:32:27.920
Do you agree?
00:32:28.400 --> 00:32:29.599
I I kind of agree.
00:32:29.839 --> 00:32:35.039
I think that's what we are here for, but then people lose sight of that and take ourselves too seriously.
00:32:35.119 --> 00:32:43.119
Like, oh, we're gonna live forever, and this is the end all be all, and we're really just like a bunch of ants crawling in our little ant farm.
00:32:43.519 --> 00:32:47.119
Anyways, uh yeah, don't go home with that thought.
00:32:47.519 --> 00:32:53.039
Go out there and manifest, manifest good things, and I hope to see you here next time.
00:32:53.279 --> 00:32:55.039
Yeah, all that positive psychology stuff.
00:32:55.200 --> 00:32:56.160
Insert here.
00:32:56.400 --> 00:32:56.720
Okay.
00:32:57.279 --> 00:32:59.119
Uh goodbye for now.
