I must admit, I do get the odd bit of flatulence…much to the disgust of the rest of my family. The reason I am sharing this information is because I have finally been given a licence to let rip.
Academics at the University of Exeter Medical School have been studying the gases produced by our bodies and have concluded that they may actually be good for us.
Here comes the science bit: the hydrogen sulfide found in flatulence can offer potential benefits for a range of health problems, including diabetes, stroke, heart disease and dementia.
I’ll let Professor Matt Whiteman of the University of Exeter explain the rest: “When cells become stressed by disease, they draw in enzymes to generate minute quantities of hydrogen sulfide. This keeps the mitochondria (the cells, which drive energy production in blood vessel cells) ticking over and allows cells to live.
“If this doesn’t happen, the cells die and lose the ability to regulate survival and control inflammation. We have exploited this natural process by making a compound, called AP39, which slowly delivers very small amounts of this gas specifically to the mitochondria. Our results indicate that if stressed cells are treated with AP39, mitochondria are protected and cells stay alive.”
Any advances in science that can help with disease are very welcome and of course this is a very serious subject.
However, I can’t help wondering how they managed to make this discovery. The childish side of me is definitely having a little giggle as I imagine a bunch of scientists trying to collect each other’s bottom burps. I feel a cartoon coming on…
http://www.exeter.ac.uk/news/research/title_393168_en.html