Although flatulence - or 'wind' as it's known - can sometimes be a sign of a serious bowel problem or a food allergy, it's usually nothing more than an embarrassment. But there are ways to deal with this 'social problem'.

A study conducted at the Loma Linda University School of Medicine in California shows that activated charcoal cuts down the amount of gas formed after eating beans and-other 'gas-producing' foods.

For the study, Raymond Hall, associate professor of physiology at Loma Linda, selected 30 men and women, aged 18 to 40, who were in good health and had never had digestive problems. 'We fed them a bland, non gas-producing meal and measured intestinal gas generated over an eight-hour period', Dr Hall told us. 'The next day we fed them a meal high in gas-producing foods beans, whole wheat toast, peaches and fruit juice. For this meal, however, we divided them into two groups and gave one group activated charcoal. capsules and the other placebos [identical-looking but medically inactive pills].

The group receiving placebos, says Dr Hall, produced large amounts of gas, but the group receiving activated charcoal produced much less - no more, in ! fact, than after the bland meal. And when the two groups ate another gassy meal, this time with the placebo group receiving the activated charcoal and vice versa, the results repeated themselves: placebo group, lots of wind; activated charcoal goup, gas levels same as the bland meal.

Activated charcoal reduces the amount of gas either by absorbing the gas itself or by absorbing the intestinal bacteria that produce the gas, explains Dr Hall. But no matter how it works, he believes that activated charcoal is 'a good cure for wind. If a person has a gas problem, it's well worth trying.' For the best results, Dr Hall suggests taking activated charcoal shortly after a meal, but, he emphasizes, this won't quickly clear up a case of wind that's already developed. 'It takes several hours for activated charcoal to reach the lower intestinal tract where the gas is being produced,' he says.

Beans seem to be the worst offenders when it comes to gas-producing foods. Flatulence is caused by the absence of enzymes in our systems to break ,down the trisaccharides (complex sugars) in beans into simple sugar. The undigested trisaccharides are acted upon in the lower intestine by the bacteria that reside there, producing carbon dioxide gas, or flatulence. How­ever, there's no reason to avoid these tasty, versatile and nutritious pulses. Just try preparing them this way, suggested to us by Joseph Rackis of the US Department of Agriculture's Midwestern Regional Research Lab in Illinois : Soak beans in water for at least three hours. After soaking, boil the beans in water for at least 30 minutes, then discard the water. If more cooking time is required, add fresh water and start again.

Home remedies for Flatulence

• Mix 2 tsp of brandy with a cup of warm water and drink before going to bed.

• Ginger taken with a little carbonate of soda and fried asafoetida (hing) is useful.

• Powder 1 tsp of pepper, 1 tsp of dry ginger and 1 tsp of green cardamom seeds. Mix 1/2 tsp of this mixture with water and drink an hour after a meal