Researchers from the Physiology and Pathophysiology of the Digestive Tract group at Vall d’Hebron Institute of Research (VHIR), which study the relationship between gut microbiota and several digestive symptoms, have identified the bacteria responsible of the production of more abdominal gases and causes sensitivity in some patients. The findings of this study determine how diet influences in these symptoms and in the quantity of gas evacuated. Besides, the investigation establishes differences in the gut microbiota composition among patients with and without symptoms. The study, published in GUT, compared patients suffering from abdominal discomfort caused by gases with patients who didn’t had discomfort due to these gases. After designing two groups of study, researchers assessed their eating habits to homogenize both groups and checked that patients with discomfort didn’t follow a diet rich in flatulence products. “At the beginning, we planned to design a comparison in baseline conditions without any intervention, and it was demonstrated that patients suffering discomfort didn’t have a bigger volume of gases than individuals of the other group, but they evacuated more times than patients of the control group”, reports Dr. Fernando Azpiroz, head of the Physiology and Pathophysiology of the Digestive Tract group.After that, patients were asked to follow a flatulence diet and then researchers found differences in the feces of both groups. In individuals with patients with symptoms, their microbiota was rapidly affected: “We observed that the biodiversity of species was reduced and the balance among them was affected. This fact caused instability in the microbiota”, comments Dr. Francisco Guarner, head of the research line in gut microbiota.