Why Rich People Don't Fart, and other Squeamish

Issues
Part 8 of the series
Culturogenic Disease The Biggest Killer of our Time
An Introduction to a New Paradigm
for Disease Prevention and Treatment
(Pub. Date 3/5/2015)
by
Prof. Sydney Ross Singer
Medical Anthropologist
Director, Institute for the Study of Culturogenic Disease
Pahoa, Hawaii/Nevada City, California
808-935-5563
www.KillerCulture.com
SydSinger@gmail.com

(Note: This is a lesson series that is being sequentially released on Academia.edu. This is the
eighth lesson of the series. Address all inquiries or comments to Prof. Singer at the contacts
above.)

Birds do it. Bees do it. In fact, we all do it.

We all eliminate waste.
What can be simpler than farting, pooping, urinating, or sweating? It's one of the most natural things
we do.
Unfortunately, our natural urges and impulses are resisted by our culture, which often makes it very
difficult for people to do what other animals do with ease.
Have you ever felt a pressing need to urinate or defecate, but had to hold it in? Perhaps you were
driving along the highway, and the next rest area was still 50 miles ahead. Or maybe you were
attending a seminar or class, or were at the theater or a concert, and you just didn't want to leave for
the restroom simply because your bladder or rectum was full.
Have you ever needed to expel a flatus (i.e., a fart), but felt it would be socially unacceptable (i.e., a
major embarrassment), so you held it in, resulting in excruciating abdominal pain?
Our culture gives us millions of reasons for holding it in. In fact, to be successful in society, we
sometimes need to defer personal biological needs. However, while this may help us socially, it harms

us physiologically.
We have learned to retain our waste. As a result, we have become wasted.
Diaper Training
Our training as waste retainers starts with diapers. While other creatures have the freedom to
eliminate waste when the need arises, we are trained to carefully plan our excretions to make them
convenient to our busy schedules and appropriately performed and flushed away. In fact, we secretly
pride ourselves on our ability to hold in waste. It reflects our high degree of training and civility. Being
civilized means we no longer assert our animalistic need to pee or poop without proper decorum and
timing.
However, there is a price for this civility!
Diverticulosis
A particularly grievous condition plagues millions of people in our culture from midlife onwards. It is a
condition known to be culture-specific, suffered by affluent Westerns more than by any other group of
people. And its cause is said to be unknown to modern medicine. It's called diverticulosis.
Diverticulosis happens when the wall of the colon, or large intestine, becomes weakened over time
from increased pressure of allegedly unknown cause. The pressure within the colon causes weakened
areas to pocket outwards, creating sacs for digested matter to collect and fester. These sacs are called
diverticula. When you have these sacs you are said to have diverticulosis.
When diverticula become infected and inflamed, the condition is called diverticulitis, which can be as
painful as appendicitis and can lead to rupture of the colon wall, a very dangerous situation. The key
issue involved in this condition is the creation of increased pressure within the large intestine. It is the
force of this pressure that causes the sacs to form.
Knowing what causes the increased pressure, then, is essential to the prevention and treatment of this
condition. But the cause has eluded modern medicine.
The Cause of Diverticulitis
At one time it was thought by medicine that the diet might be too high in fiber, causing a blockage of
digestion and the increased colon pressure. But lowering the fiber of the diet did not significantly alter
the condition. Then it was thought that too little fiber prevented proper elimination, and high fiber
diets were recommended. Unfortunately, this did not help the condition, either. Diverticulitis is also
equally common among vegetarians as it is among meat eaters. While special interest groups
promoting certain diets present research supporting their dietary views as preventative of
diverticulitis, there is contrasting research to balance it.
So, the overall research on diverticulitis has been inconclusive regarding the cause of increased colon
pressure that creates this dreadful condition. And in the absence of knowing the cause, medicine can
merely offer pain relief with drugs, antibiotics for the infections, and surgery for particularly nasty,
abscessed pockets. As for prevention, the current suggestion is to eat more fiber, making the bowels
need to eliminate more frequently.
Of course, one thing was overlooked in the medical research on diverticulitis. The most common
reason for increased colon pressure is not really a medical issue, but a cultural one. That is why
medicine has missed it. Furthermore, this cultural practice causes the medical profession to suffer
from diverticulitis to an even greater extent than their patients.

It all has to do with not answering the call of nature.

The simplest ways to increase colon pressure is to close the anal sphincter while the intestine is
contracting. The pressure of muscular contraction has to go somewhere. If the pressure does not
expel waste from the colon, it instead pressurizes the colon walls.
The result is diverticula formation.
The Fart Factor
In addition to holding in waste, there is the even greater problem of holding in farts. The technical
term for this is flatus retention. It's what most people are trained to do in public, from school days
onward. This is another reason why diverticulitis is more prevalent among professional, affluent
Westerners, than among the poor of third world countries.
The higher your status, the less acceptable your flatus.
It seems that poverty buys a right to pass wind when needed, while affluence creates the need for
greater discretion. Yet, the sad fact is that the pressure of the fart must go somewhere. Either pass
wind or have your intestine blow up. The choice is yours.
Interestingly, there was one study that connected diverticulitis with holding in gas. It was in the British
medical journal, Lancet, in 1975. The article is entitled, "Flatus retention is the major factor in
diverticular disease". But the information was ignored.
Medicine seems more comfortable prescribing drugs and surgery for diverticulitis than simply telling
people to poop and fart more often.
Urine Trouble Now
Medicine also says nothing about the common practice of holding in urine. In fact, the entire issue is
ignored, as is unfortunately the case with most cultural practices that affect our health.
Most doctors hold in their own urine, as well, especially surgeons during surgery. Doctors and medical
researchers are trained, like the rest of society, to conform to our culture's idiosyncratic ways. This
makes medicine and doctors oblivious to the obvious, since we all tend to overlook our own personal
foibles.
Obviously, holding in waste cannot be good for you. Once you reflect on what is in the waste, where it
is stored, and what happens when it is held in, the serious cost of urine retention becomes clear.
Urine is a filtrate from the blood. Once the kidneys process the filtrate, it becomes urine. This then
passively flows down two thin tubes, called the ureters, one ureter for each kidney. The ureters empty
into the bladder, which expands to accommodate the fluid. Once the bladder expands to a certain
limit, a reflex is started that causes urination. That is, if we allow the reflex to operate naturally.
Urine is predominately a salt solution, along with other waste products. When you hold it in the
pressure in the bladder builds, while the urine becomes increasingly concentrated. The longer you hold
in urine, the more concentrated it will become.
What can happen to a salt solution when it becomes concentrated? It can precipitate, forming crystals.
It's simple chemistry. These crystals are called stones.

In addition to concentrating the urine, bladder pressure will resist the flow of new urine coming from
the kidneys. This will lead to a back-up of all the plumbing, so to speak, as the kidneys themselves
ultimately get hampered in their ability to filter the blood. This increases the toxin load of the
bloodstream and can cause metabolic, circulatory and heart problems.
The Bladder and the Prostate
Unfortunately, there's more caused by an engorged, overfull bladder than the concentration of urine.
When you look at the male anatomy of the pelvic region, you will see that the bladder is directly above
the prostate gland. Underneath the prostate is the pelvic floor. The pelvic floor and bladder essentially
make a prostate sandwich. An over-filled bladder will press on the prostate. No gland likes pressure,
since pressure reduces its blood flow and general operation. If severe and frequent enough, the bladder
pressure may cause the prostate to enlarge to better cushion itself from the bladder burden.
It is medically known that prolonged horseback riding or bicycle riding can lead to prostate
enlargement due to pressure from the bottom up. A full bladder causes pressure from the top down.
A cause of prostate enlargement may thus be this cultural penchant for urine retention.
Infections
Another problem that may result from an over-stretched bladder and its storage of concentrated waste
is irritation and damage to the bladder wall. This may increase the likelihood of succumbing to
bacterial invasion. Bladder and urinary tract infections may, therefore, be another product of urine
retention.
Dehydration
One further note. For fear of having to urinate at an inappropriate time, some people may avoid
drinking water. This will lead to dehydration and even more concentrated urine. Interestingly, doctors
tell patients with a history of kidney or bladder stones to drink more. Of course, it's hard to take it in if
you are not letting it out. You need to pee more if you drink more.
Other Waste Management Issues
It's common sense that the urges to fart, defecate or urinate need to be satisfied or you will develop
health problems. However, there are other modes of elimination that can compensate for the toxin
load caused by poor elimination behavior. One particular elimination mode is typically overlooked as
being a form of elimination.
Interestingly, it is only available to women.
Women's Monthly Cleanse
Each month, from puberty until menopause, women who are not pregnant experience monthly
menstruation, as the endometrium lining the uterus is sloughed off. This sloughing is a cleansing,
detoxification process. Here's why.
The purpose of the endometrium is to provide nutritional support for a fertilized ovum until the
placenta develops and provides nutrition and elimination services for the developing fetus. The
endometrium lining of the uterus is rebuilt following the previous menstrual flow under the influence
of estrogen and progesterone. The thickness of the endometrium increases as blood vessels and tissue
proliferate, while the endometrium soaks in nutrients like a sponge. Some nutrients are secreted, while

others are stored for later use.

Naturally, a highly vascular, secretory organ like the endometrium can also absorb and secrete
(excrete) toxins, as well.
Meanwhile, estrogen makes toxins especially available for absorption by the endometrium. One
physiological effect of estrogen is to cause salt and fluid retention, making the entire body slightly
swell just prior to the commencement of the period. This essentially flushes the tissues, as the fluid
cleanses the interstitial spaces. This helps remove toxins from the tissues, as the fluid travels back into
the bloodstream via lymphatic channels for toxin elimination.
It is at this time that some women experience PMS, or premenstrual syndrome. Leg, breast and
abdominal swelling are manifestations of estrogen caused fluid retention. Depression, irritability,
confusion, and fatigue, also PMS symptoms, may be related to the increase in circulating toxins
released from the tissues.
As these toxins circulate in the bloodstream, some are eliminated by the kidneys, some are processed
by the liver and excreted with the bile into the intestines, some are exhaled by the lungs, and some are
sweated out. Many women report increased body odor and bad breath during this cleansing time.
Meanwhile, some toxins are absorbed by the receptive and "hungry" endometrium. If pregnancy is not
achieved, the endometrium is sloughed off, eliminating the toxins with the unneeded uterine lining.
Menstruation, then, is a time of cleansing for women between puberty and menopause, at which time
this mode of cleansing stops.
Menopausal Hot Flashes
What happens when this cleansing mechanism stops at menopause?
Clearly, if there is a cessation of the menstrual mode of elimination, then other modes must
compensate. This means that it would be important for menopausal women to move their bowels
regularly, drink plenty of fluids and urinate when needed, breathe deeply, and sweat freely.
Sweat-phobia
Sweating is an important mode of toxin elimination. However, our culture is extremely sweat-phobic.
Besides the fear of having smelly, sweaty armpits, there is the armpit stain on shirts and blouses to
worry about. Deodorants can mask the smell, but not the wetness. Using antiperspirants may make
the armpits drier and more culturally acceptable, but it does so at a cost to health.
What happens when women hold in their waste and impair their ability to sweat? They become toxic.
Toxins can cause irritability and moodiness, common for many menopausal women. Eventually, the
toxins build up to the danger point, compelling the body to do something extreme to eliminate them.
What the body does is give itself a hot flash to make itself sweat. Spontaneous sweating, then, is the
body's emergency response to its waste management problem. The more toxic the woman, the more
she needs to sweat as a form of elimination.
Coming Out of Age in Fiji
When I was in Fiji to study a different issue (the link between bra wearing and breast cancer
incidence), I took advantage of the opportunity of being with these non-Western people to ask about

the way local women experienced menopause.

Margaret Mead, the famous cultural anthropologist, discovered that the discomforts young western
women often associate with the "coming of age" were mostly absent for Samoan women. As medical
anthropologists, we wondered if the coming "out of age" was any different for Fijian women than for
those in the West who complain of various symptoms, such as hot flashes and profuse sweating.
So we asked some post-menopausal women how they experienced their menopause. The response was
pretty similar from each.
"What's that?" they asked, perplexed.
We soon discovered that there is no equivalent word in Fijian for "menopause". In Fiji, when a women
lives long enough to stop menstruating, she simply goes to the doctor to make sure she is not pregnant.
The lack of negative physiological and psychological effects from the end of menstruation, so
troublesome for some Western women, has resulted in the absence of a term to describe this time in a
Fijian woman's life.
As it happens, these Fijian women have no issues with sweating. They sweat freely and never use
antiperspirants.
The hot flashes and profuse sweating of menopause is therefore not universal among all cultures. And
in Western cultures, it is not even universal among all women. While the medical literature has harped
on lack of estrogen and on excessive gonadotropic hormones as the most likely causes of this
"pathology", the fact that most women who pass through menopause have little or no problem at all
suggests that the mechanism for the reported problems must be something other than altered
hormones following menopause.
In other words, since all women have reduced estrogen and elevated gonadotropins as they enter
menopause, why do some women have troubling hot flashes and sweats, while others do not? Could
there be another mechanism that has been overlooked?
Could hot flashes and sweats be a defense mechanism? Could it be that the hot flashes, and the sweat
response this produces, are the body's attempt at eliminating toxins that have accumulated as a result
of menopause?
It was this line of thinking that led us to develop the Menopause Relief Project, which included a study
of menopausal women with hot flashes and sweats that no treatment would cure.
Sweaty Victorian Women
We did our small study in Victoria, British Columbia. We found 10 female volunteers who were
menopausal and experiencing very distressing hot flashes and sweats. We asked the local YWCA to
provide free passes for these women to use the sauna and steam room, and asked the volunteers to
take 20 minute sweats daily, for 8 weeks. We relied on their subjective responses for the results.
By the end of the first week, 4 of the women had dropped out. They reported that they personally
disliked sweating and found this form of prevention unappealing. All of these women continued to
have hot flashes and spontaneous sweats.
Of the remaining 6, one could not sweat effectively, and merely overheated in the sauna. She also
dropped out.
Of the remaining 5, all experienced relief by 2 weeks of daily sweats. They reported that they no longer

had night sweats or hot flashes, apart from a minor blush.

We later discussed our study with an AIDS researcher who was exploring hyperthermia treatments. He
said that a side effect of the hyperthermia, which caused sweating, was that it stopped AIDS patients
from having night sweats.
Essentially, we found that women could avoid the spontaneous sweats by deliberately sweating each
day to eliminate the toxins. After all, the problem with hot flashes is that they happen at inconvenient
times, out of the control of the woman. If she can choose the time when she wishes to eliminate toxins,
it would make spontaneous sweating unnecessary, ending the hot flashes.
And it worked.
Most women can withstand the rigors of a sweat bath, but some conditions may contraindicate
hyperthermia treatment, such as heart disease, hypertension, and diabetes. After sweating women
should replace fluids as needed, with electrolytes as well as water.
Clearly, women with menopausal problems need to examine their diet, along with the health and
function of all their eliminatory organs. However, menopause is not a disease, and the body knows
how to deal with disturbances to its equilibrium with mechanisms such as perspiring. We just have to
make sure the culture does not get in the body's way.
Bottom Line
While the culture can make it difficult to satisfy our natural needs, the number of people suffering
needlessly from diverticulitis, prostate enlargement, bladder stones and infections, kidney stones,
menopausal discomforts, and various signs of toxicity, along with the high cost of treating these
preventable problems, makes waste retention an important public health problem.
The fact that these problems can often be prevented by simply doing what comes naturally makes this
crisis of waste management appear almost comical, were it not the cause of so many serious problems.
So do yourself a favor. When nature calls, don't put the call on hold. Answer it. It could be the answer
to your health problems.