Excessive farting and burping usually come down to two things: swallowing too much air and producing too much gas in your gut. The average person passes gas about 15 times a day, though anywhere from a handful to 40 times falls within the normal range. If you’re noticeably above your own baseline, something has shifted in your habits, diet, or digestion.
Where the Gas Actually Comes From
Gas in your digestive tract has two distinct sources, and they tend to cause different symptoms. Air you swallow travels down into your stomach and either comes back up as a burp or continues into your intestines and exits as flatulence. Meanwhile, bacteria in your large intestine produce their own gases (hydrogen, carbon dioxide, methane, and small amounts of hydrogen sulfide) as they break down food your small intestine didn’t fully absorb. If you’re dealing with both burping and farting, there’s a good chance both sources are contributing.
Habits That Make You Swallow Air
You naturally take in small amounts of air every time you chew, breathe, or talk. That’s normal. But certain habits tip the balance, a condition sometimes called aerophagia. Eating too fast, talking while eating, chewing gum, and sucking on hard candy all increase the volume of air entering your stomach. Carbonated drinks add carbon dioxide directly, and research suggests that gastric discomfort kicks in after drinking more than about 300 ml (roughly one can) of a carbonated beverage.
Stress and anxiety also play a role that people rarely consider. When you’re anxious, your breathing rate changes and you may develop a pattern of frequent gulping or swallowing without realizing it. This nervous tic can pump significant amounts of air into your gut throughout the day. If you use a CPAP machine for sleep apnea, that’s another common culprit. The machine delivers continuous airflow to keep your airway open, and your body sometimes can’t clear the excess air fast enough.
Foods That Fuel Gas Production
The biggest dietary drivers of intestinal gas are short-chain carbohydrates that your small intestine absorbs poorly. These fermentable sugars pass into your colon, where bacteria feast on them and produce gas as a byproduct. The specific gases and their volumes actually depend on which bacteria dominate your gut. People with higher populations of methane-producing organisms, for instance, tend to produce more methane, while others generate more hydrogen or hydrogen sulfide (the one responsible for the smell).
The most common gas-producing foods include:
- Beans and lentils: rich in fermentable fibers called galactans
- Wheat-based products: bread, cereal, crackers
- Certain vegetables: onions, garlic, asparagus, artichokes
- Certain fruits: apples, pears, cherries, peaches
- Dairy: milk, yogurt, ice cream (especially if you’re lactose intolerant)
- Sugar-free products: anything sweetened with sorbitol, xylitol, or mannitol
These foods aren’t unhealthy. Many of them are high in fiber and nutrients. But if your gas has spiked recently, it’s worth checking whether you’ve increased your intake of any of these categories. A sudden jump in fiber consumption is one of the most common reasons people notice a dramatic change.
Lactose and Fructose Intolerance
Sugar malabsorption is surprisingly common and often goes undiagnosed. In studies of people with functional gut symptoms, about 60% showed intolerance to fructose and 51% to lactose. A third were intolerant to both. When your body can’t absorb these sugars in the small intestine, they travel to the colon and get fermented by bacteria, producing hydrogen and other gases that cause bloating, flatulence, and cramping.
Interestingly, the severity of your symptoms doesn’t always match how much sugar you’re actually failing to absorb. Some people experience intense bloating and gas even when lab tests show only mild malabsorption. This likely comes down to individual differences in gut bacteria composition and how sensitive your intestinal nerves are to stretching and pressure. If dairy or fruit-heavy meals consistently leave you gassy, a pattern of intolerance is worth exploring even without formal testing.
IBS and Bacterial Overgrowth
Irritable bowel syndrome is one of the most common reasons for persistent, bothersome gas. People with IBS often have visceral hypersensitivity, meaning their intestinal nerves overreact to normal amounts of gas and stretching. A volume of gas that wouldn’t bother someone else can cause real pain and discomfort. IBS also involves disrupted gut motility: food and gas may move through the intestines too quickly (causing diarrhea) or too slowly (causing constipation and trapped gas).
Small intestinal bacterial overgrowth, or SIBO, is a related condition where bacteria that normally live in your colon colonize the small intestine instead. Because food arrives in the small intestine before most nutrients are absorbed, these misplaced bacteria get first access to fermentable carbohydrates and produce gas higher up in the digestive tract. About two-thirds of people with SIBO report excessive gas, bloating, abdominal fullness, and cramping. When the overgrowth is dominated by methane-producing organisms, constipation tends to be the primary bowel change. SIBO is diagnosed through a breath test that measures hydrogen and methane in your exhaled air after drinking a sugar solution.
Medications That Cause Gas
Several common medications can increase gas production as a side effect. Metformin, widely prescribed for type 2 diabetes and polycystic ovarian syndrome, causes digestive symptoms in up to one in three users, with diarrhea and gas among the most frequent complaints. Sugar alcohols like sorbitol, used as sweeteners in cough syrups and liquid medications, can cause bloating and diarrhea in a dose-dependent way. If your gas problems started around the same time as a new medication, that connection is worth investigating with your prescriber.
What You Can Do About It
Start with the simplest explanations first. Eat more slowly, put your fork down between bites, and avoid talking with food in your mouth. Cut back on carbonated drinks, gum, and hard candy for a week and see if your burping improves. These changes target air swallowing and can make a noticeable difference within days.
For flatulence, try tracking which foods precede your worst episodes. You don’t need to eliminate everything at once. Pick the most likely culprits from the list above, remove them for two to three weeks, then reintroduce them one at a time. This informal approach works well for many people. A more structured version is a low-FODMAP elimination diet, which temporarily removes all the major fermentable carbohydrate groups and then systematically reintroduces each one. This is especially useful if you suspect IBS or a specific sugar intolerance.
If dietary changes don’t help, or if your gas comes with abdominal pain, persistent changes in bowel habits, diarrhea, unintended weight loss, or blood in your stool, those are signs that something beyond diet is going on. Conditions like celiac disease, SIBO, gastroparesis, and even certain cancers can cause increased gas alongside other symptoms. A breath test can screen for SIBO and sugar malabsorption, and further evaluation can rule out more serious causes.