The smell of sulfur, like rotten eggs, is a cause for concern. Frequent sulfur or excessive burping can be a sign of something more serious. The cause of sulfur burps can vary, including your diet, behaviour, and underlying medical problems.
In addition to sulfur and excessive gas, many of these conditions are associated with other worrying symptoms. If you frequently experience sulfur, it may not be your diet or an underlying disease that causes it.
If you have diarrhoea, sulfur, or other symptoms of stomach cramps, nausea, vomiting or infection problems, Dr Sonpal says. If you are worried about rotten eggs, she recommends keeping a diary listing the food you eat and your daily habits to help you make a connection between your diet and GI symptoms. If you have extreme abdominal pain, cramps, abnormal bowel movements, frequent diarrhoea or vomiting you should immediately contact a doctor.
If you often have smelly experiences, this may be a sign of an underlying disease or gastrointestinal disorder. Read on for eight reasons why you might have something smelly and how to see a doctor, as well as insights from digestive experts.
The foul smell of rotten eggs is due to hydrogen sulfide, a gas produced when the body digests food with sulfur, said Harry J. Thomas, M.D., a certified gastroenterologist at Austin Gastroenterology in Central Texas. Rotten eggs smell of sulfur due to hydrogen sulfide, a gas that comes from what you eat, intestinal diseases, and infections. It is helpful to understand where the gas comes from first and where it comes from.
Sulfur occurs naturally in the digestive tract and produces a kind of gas called hydrogen sulfide. Occasional hydrogen sulfide production is normal, but excessive production can be an indication of digestive problems.
Your body emits gases that do not smell, such as oxygen and carbon dioxide. Nitrogen, carbon dioxide, oxygen, hydrogen, and small amounts of methane are typical components. In other cases, the gases you emit are mixed with another gas called hydrogen sulfide (sulfur) in the digestive tract .
When the gas released during burping comes into contact with hydrogen sulfide in the intestine, it ends up smelling of sulfur and rotten eggs. Hydrogen sulfide is a natural product of the digestion of certain foods and is often associated with what you eat. This mixed gas causes a strong smell when we belch and reach the gas at the other end.
If your belch smells of rotten eggs, the sulfur is the result of a combination of liquid food and bile that helps you digest your food. The bile is located in the back of the stomach and esophagus and is called bile reflux, according to the Mayo Clinic.
As a result, when you burp, you can smell and taste the bile and salt that contain sulfur. Smelling sulfur adds more gas to the mixture and causes an odor.
Sugar nourishes bacteria in the gut, causing hydrogen sulfide to form. Clinical studies are investigating the role of this gas (hydrogen sulfide, the gas most commonly associated with the smell of rotten eggs) in human circulation, health, and disease. Recent lab studies have shown that this gas is able to dilate blood vessels and regulate insulin production.
Researchers at Peninsula Medical School in Exeter found for the first time a link between blood levels of hydrogen sulfide gas, which is more commonly associated with the smell of rotten eggs, and obesity and type 2 diabetes.
There are a few different bacteria that can cause sulfur to affect the digestive system. Infection of the upper gastrointestinal tract by H. pylori, a bacterium that causes problems such as flatulence, heartburn, and sulfur.
Most come from swallowed air that gets stuck in the oesophagus (burp) before reaching the stomach. Most smells of food and are caused by their current contents in the stomach. The air that is swallowed goes from the oesophagus to the stomach, where it mixes with digestive gases to form smelly sulfur burps.
The foul smell of rotten eggs is due to hydrogen sulfide, a gas produced when your body digests food rich in sulfur. Rare sulfur is a consequence of what you eat, so anything you eat with a diet high in sulfur is harmless. However, frequent sulfur burps could be a sign of an underlying disease or digestive problems.
Burping is the natural way of the body of releasing gas from the stomach and intestines, although it is considered in many contexts as rude. It is normal that the digestive system produces a certain amount of gas that is expelled from the rectum by burping (flatulence). Gas is produced as a result of bacteria in food when it is broken down, eaten, drunk chewed, rubberized, smoked or worn loose prostheses that produce gas in the stomach.
Sulfur burps often follow the foul-smelling rotten egg caused by hydrogen sulfide gases. While some sulfur burps resemble the smell of rotten eggs, they are more likely the result of hydrogen sulfide or gases from certain foods or intestinal infections.
It is known that certain foods that do not have a high sulfur content cause excessive amounts of gas. Other causes include smoking, chewing gum, and drinking fizzy drinks.
When an underlying digestive problem is diagnosed, there are many dietary changes a person can make to reduce or eliminate the unwanted gas caused by sulfur. Treating sulfur can be as simple as removing certain foods from your diet or changing behaviour that causes you to swallow excess air. Omission of triggering foods or lifestyle changes do not help, but there are medications for sulfur burps.
Omeprazole or other PPI is used to treat a range of digestive problems, including gastroesophageal reflux disease, acid reflux, and stomach infections caused by H. pylori bacteria that can be caused by sulfur.