It may not be dinner-table conversation, but the way your farts smell — or don’t — could offer a useful clue about what’s going on in your gut, according to a prominent health coach.
Dan Go, a high-performance health coach known for working with entrepreneurs, founders, and executives on improving their health, has attracted attention online after explaining what flatulence can reveal about digestion and gut bacteria.
His main point is that the type of gas your body produces often depends on what the bacteria in your gut are breaking down.
In a post on X, Go said the explanation is less complicated than most people might think.
When you eat enough fibre, gut bacteria ferment that fibre and produce gases such as carbon dioxide, hydrogen, and methane.
Those gases are generally odourless. Fibre fermentation also creates short-chain fatty acids, which are considered beneficial and may help support the gut lining and reduce inflammation in the gut.
Problems tend to arise when fibre intake is too low and protein intake is relatively high.
In that situation, more undigested protein can pass into the colon, where bacteria begin breaking it down instead. That process can generate hydrogen sulfide as well as compounds like skatole and indole.
Go says this is what leads to the kind of fart he describes as:
“silent but deadly”
According to him, it can also be a sign that your gut is under strain rather than functioning at its best.
Go also noted that protein fermentation produces branched-chain fatty acids instead of the more beneficial short-chain fatty acids associated with fibre fermentation.
He said both branched-chain fatty acids and hydrogen sulfide have been associated with gut inflammation and intestinal permeability, often referred to as leaky gut.
“Your farts are a gut health report card,” Go said bluntly.
He also shared a personal example, saying his wife regularly had to deal with the aftermath whenever he ate steak.
He referred to them as:
“protein farts”
Go said the issue was not that protein itself was the problem, but that he was falling well short of the recommended daily amount of fibre.
Rather than cutting back on protein, he increased his fibre intake significantly. He made a point of reaching his fibre target each day and used psyllium husk to help close the gap when needed.
After doing that, he said the odour issue disappeared, his digestion improved, and his inflammation markers dropped noticeably.
The reasoning, according to Go, is simple: when both fibre and protein are available, gut bacteria will prioritise fermenting fibre.
That means a diet high in protein does not necessarily have to cause foul-smelling gas, as long as fibre intake is also high enough.
Other health sources support part of that explanation. Rotten-egg smells are commonly linked to sulfur-containing gases such as hydrogen sulfide, which can be produced during digestion, especially after eating certain foods or when gut bacteria break down specific compounds. Common gas triggers also include beans, lentils, broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, dairy products in people who are lactose intolerant, fructose, sugar alcohols, and carbonated drinks.
Gas is usually normal, and on its own it rarely signals anything serious. But doctors say you should get checked if gas is severe, persistent, or comes with symptoms like abdominal pain, vomiting, diarrhea, constipation, blood in the stool, heartburn, or unintentional weight loss.
As for what to do, Go’s recommendation is to aim for 25–35g of fibre per day. For many adults, official nutrition guidance puts daily fibre needs at about 25g for women and 38g for men under 51, with slightly lower targets for older adults. For people who struggle to get there through food alone, psyllium husk can be an inexpensive and practical addition.
That could be good news not just for your gut, but for anyone sharing a room with you.