尽管儿童可以为我们带来快乐，而放屁却被认为不是一种让我们觉得友好的方式，其反而会影响人们的兴致；但放屁实际上也有一种好处，即屁的产生意味着我们的机体中“住”着大量正能量的细菌；为了鼓励这些友好的微生物，我们就需要吃纤维，研究者Trevor Lockett表示，膳食纤维的发酵成分对于喂养机体中肠道微生物群非常重要，而部分纤维的发酵主要是缩短链式脂肪酸，在该过程中就会产生气体（屁）。
发酵是一项化学过程，该过程可以破碎纤维中的碳水化合物，而肠道中的大量细菌就可以利用发酵产物来制造食物，改善机体健康的分子同时也会被产生；最近研究者Lockett就在阿德莱德举办的2015年国家医学研究澳大利亚社会科学会议上阐述了题为'Bugs， Bowels and Beyond'的研究，研究者重点阐述了不同的膳食组分如何影响肠道微生物组，并且确定了其产物并不仅仅是气体，而且对机体肠道组织有益的分子。
研究者Lockett说道，比如我们都知道生活在肠道中的细菌可以产生名为名为丁酸盐的短链脂肪酸，其可以通过刺激调节性免疫细胞来减少机体炎症表现；如今我们正在扩大这项研究来确保是否我们可以改善炎性肠病患者的表现；食物中的组分可以设法使其通过胃部和小肠的消化过程来在大肠中“喂养”大量的微生物菌群，而这些食物组分被称为抗性淀粉。
我们可以通过摄入粗粮、谷物等食物来改善饮食中抗性淀粉的比重，随着研究者对膳食纤维中有益组分的深入理解，如今研究者也可以告知同仁们不断种植谷物的真正目的是什么了；如果我们使得抗性淀粉富含于可销售的谷物中，或许就会促进人类机体健康，当前研究者及其同事们正在对两种非遗传修饰的罕见谷物进行修饰来确定其是否对机体肠道健康有影响。
研究者指出，谷物可以增加粪便样本中的酸度，增加肠道中丁酸盐的产生，而这些结果都是肠道健康的表现，当然后期研究中研究人员还希望通过研究来揭示谷物对人类机体会带来巨大的健康效益。
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Why foods that make you fart are a good thing
Although renowned for creating delight in children, farts are not considered the best way to make friends and influence people.
But there is an upside: the production of gas means that your body is hosting the right kinds of bacteria.
To encourage these 'good' bugs – known as our microbiome – we need to eat fibre.
"Fermentable components of dietary fibre have a critical role in feeding the gut microbiome," said Dr Trevor Lockett, Head of the Gut Health and Nutrition Group at CSIRO Food and Nutrition.
"This part of fibre is fermented mostly to short chain fatty acids, a process which creates gas."
Fermentation is a chemical process that breaks down carbohydrates in fibre: bacteria do it in our bowels to create food for themselves. Molecules that improve the health of their host – that's you – are also produced.
Dr Lockett presented an updat on his group's latest research at 'Bugs, Bowels and Beyond', the 2015 National Scientific Conference of the Australian Society for Medical Research held in Adelaide, South Australia this week.
He focused in particular on recent findings describing how different dietary components influence the microbiome, and determine their production of not just gas, but also molecules that are beneficial in the large intestine.
"For example, we know now that bacteria living in the large intestine produce a short chain fatty acid known as butyrate, which can reduce inflammation by stimulating regulatory immune cells," he said.
"We're now seeking to expand some of this work to see if we can improve inflammatory bowel disease."
The component in food that manages to make it through digestive processes in the stomach and small intestine to feed the microbiome in the large intestine is known as resistant starch.
You can improve the proportion of resistant starch in your diet by eating unrefined whole grains, pulses and legumes, unripe bananas and cooked and cooled foods such as potatoes, pasta and rice.
Dr Lockett explained that in addition to conducting fundamental research, scientists at the CSIRO work across the fields of nutrition and agriculture for product development.
"As our understanding of the beneficial components of dietary fibre has improved, we've been able to inform colleagues who are growing grains for cereal purposes," he explained.