Flatulent Foodstuff, an Agent in the Creation of Infantile Colic: a Narrative Study based on the Traditional Iranian Medicine and Modern Investigation

Colic is a common and annoying problem in infancy whose etiology is not well understood. Traditional Iranian Medicine (TIM) scientists know flatulent food effective in creating this disorder. Since the reduction or withdrawal of this kind of food in mother’s and infant’s nutrition can be effective in preventing flatulence, this study aims to study and identify flatulent foods and the mechanism of flatulence in traditional and modern medicine. The search was conducted using the following keywords: "flatulent", "flatulence", "colic" and "bowel sound (Gharagher)" in six pharmacopeias of Traditional Iranian Medicine.
Then, the scientific name of foodstuff was determined and the materias were scored based on the repetition in one or more traditional medicine book. Finally, by searching electronic resources, etiology and the mechanism of flatulence were evaluated for some of these materias. A total of 90 flatulent materias were found. Apples, cucumbers, pears, wheat, turnips and rice are the most flatulent plant materias. Etiology of flatulence in modern medicine is the gas production caused by the fermentation of the remaining food and carbohydrates by colon bacteria while in traditional medicine texts, flatulence occurs due to dysfunction in digestion performance which may be due to the type of the food.
As a conclusion, almost all foods that were introduced as flatulent in traditional medicine are known as flatulence generators in modern medicine resources, as well. Identification of these foods can help to reduce infantile colic.