Of course, burping is just another bodily function but social discomfort prevails around it, and possibly for good reason.
Bengaluru: On the latest episode of Koffee with Karan, actor Alia Bhatt caused a stir when she burped on camera. Host Karan Johar promptly remarked that she had just burped on national TV, which she gracefully brushed off as no big deal.
Of course, burping is just another bodily function and should be seen as such. However, social discomfort prevails around it, and possibly for good reasons that involve sound and smell.
Also read: Waiting for ‘bolder than before’ Karan Johar to shed his sexless personality
Burping is seen as unpleasant and rude, even unhygienic. This varies across cultures. In India, for example, several people consider a satisfactory belch at the end of a large meal to be quite the compliment. However, in most parts of the world, it is definitely seen as uncouth and disgusting.
Although one can control it and voluntarily perform the act of burping as well, it is sometimes involuntary.
What causes burps?
There are several causes for burps. The human stomach can accommodate only a limited quantity of food — about three litres. Anything beyond this causes the stomach to expand and increase the pressure on it. So the gas that is produced in the stomach has no place to stay and is pressured upwards and outwards. This is the most common cause of involuntary burps.
Sometimes when burps and belches are suppressed, they can prove to be cause for great discomfort, even death. Several people are affected by chest and stomach pains for holding in air.
In the case of newborn babies, their digestive tract is very prone to accumulating large amounts of gases. Since their muscles aren’t properly developed yet, they need to be placed in a position in which burping can be induced by patting their backs.
Infant burping can also cause regurgitation or vomiting, as the seal that rests on top of their food pipe isn’t properly controlled yet. Even for astronauts or swimmers in water, burping can cause vomiting as the seal depends on gravity to rest properly on the food pipe.
Too much burping is trouble
Burping ‘too much’ has its most prominent cause in stalling too much air. Consuming carbonated beverages, ingesting air with other beverages (by slurping too much, even), eating food too quickly, thus ingesting air, and even smoking leads to frequent burping.
A lot of musicians who play on wind instruments like flutes and trumpets also face unusually frequent burping when they play. Even conditions like anxiety or sleep apnea can cause burps.
If a person burps too much — along with other uncomfortable symptoms to do with digestion such as diarrhoea or constipation, bloating, stomach pain, or excessive passing of gas — it could be an indication of Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS). This condition affects twice as many women as men, and it is estimated that 11 per cent of Indians are affected.
IBS does not have a cure yet and can only be treated for symptoms.
While burping in public is still very much frowned upon, it does come in handy in a very unusual situation — it can help a person whose larynx or voice box has been removed in speaking. The speaker can swallow air and expel it through the vocal tract to produce burped speech or “esophageal speech”.
This is popularly also used as an embarrassment inducing party trick.
In the animal kingdom
Burping isn’t confined to humans either. It is common among animals as well, especially ruminants. Cows and sheep burp several times a day, releasing noxious gases. One such gas is methane, and cows expel over a 1,000 kg of it per year. A single lactating cow can produce over 300 kg of methane a day.
In fact, cows burp out so much methane that these contribute to over 35 per cent of greenhouse gases today.
A contributing reason to this is because cattle fodder is often composed of hard-to-digest fodder made of corn, instead of cow-friendly foods like flax.