NEW BLOG BREAKS THE LAST TABOO: AN OPEN DISCUSSION ABOUT FLATULENCE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

NEW BLOG BREAKS THE LAST TABOO:
AN OPEN DISCUSSION ABOUT FLATULENCE

Renowned expert on nutrition and healthy digestion launches a blog to foster meaningful discussion and provide advice on how to cope with uncontrollable gas

PHILADELPHIA, Pa. - December 20, 2005 - A new blog that launched today aims to tackle society's last taboo: the flatulence that results from gastrointestinal distress. The 'Trafon' blog (spell it backwards!), located at HTTP://WWW.TRAFON.ORG, is a new and exciting Web destination for people who suffer from a variety of conditions that can lead to uncontrollable gas. Now these constant gas sufferers can find insight and answers about this embarrassing, sometimes funny, but often serious health issue.

The Trafon blog is the brainchild of Bill Downs, a nationally recognized expert on diet and nutrition science. Downs has also authored and co-authored several peer-reviewed published papers on various subjects from immune system issues to obesity. Downs believes that Americans are over-fed, under-nourished and over-medicated, with a large portion of U.S. society suffering silently with the burden of uncontrollable gas.

"We are the most medicated country in the world, yet we remain the most chronically diseased," Downs says. "In essence, we're fooling ourselves into living a symptom-free illusion by medicating ourselves to death. And in doing so, we're not really correcting the underlying causes, especially when it comes to digestion issues."

The Trafon blog is Downs' effort to encourage people to break the final taboo, and openly discuss the pain, suffering, and reasons behind society's biggest faux pas: the increasing need to expel intestinal gas in public. Downs is now regularly posting news, commentary, observations, discoveries, and insights of interest to people who suffer with flatulence, including people with diabetes; malabsorption syndromes; lactose intolerance; Crohn's, Colitis, Celiac, or inflammatory bowel diseases; heartburn; indigestion; and other lower-GI issues.

The Trafon blog features:

• Regular blog posts on everything related to flatulence, including the latest news and gastrointestinal research results; exploration about the root causes of gas; debunking of flatulence myths; and clean, family-friendly jokes that make gas sufferers smile.
• A community of flatulence suffers who comment on Downs' blog posts, share their personal experiences and advice with each other, and read comments posted by other visitors.
• The ability to follow 'trackback' links, which bring readers to other blogs that are linking to specific Trafon blog posts - a unique benefit that helps visitors quickly and easily find additional information related to a specific topic.
• Hilarious 'Gassy Greeting Cards', a free e-card service that anyone can use to anonymously invite a flatulence sufferer to the Trafon blog.
• Regularly updated blog community surveys that let flatulence sufferers see how their condition and experiences compare to other visitors to the Trafon blog.
• A free copy of Larry Glanz's humor classic, 'The Ultimate Book of Bathroom Etiquette and Humor'. Instructional and satirical, The Ultimate Book of Bathroom Etiquette and Humor is Glanz's comprehensive compilation of the best and worst examples of public and private bathroom behavior.
• Links to outside resources for flatulence sufferers.

"The Internet is the perfect place to start an intelligent, informative, and frank discussion about society's last unmentionable," Downs says. "Flatulence has been around since dinosaurs roamed the planet, and yet people are still offended when someone passes gas in public. But some people simply can't hold it in, and this last taboo increases their suffering. For millions of people who suffer with gastrointestinal disorders, 'farting' isn't a punch line; it's a problem. My Trafon blog is the first destination on the Web where gas sufferers won't feel like outlaws."