It has been a weird week in health news. First doctors said that Justin Bieber might save young boys’ lives (the “hip” bowl cut is actually a form of sun protection — skin cancer be gone!), and now scientists out of the University of Exeter insist that smelling farts could actually prevent cancer, among other diseases. Uh, okay.
“Although hydrogen sulfide gas”—produced when bacteria breaks down food—”is well known as a pungent, foul-smelling gas in rotten eggs and flatulence, it is naturally produced in the body and could in fact be a healthcare hero with significant implications for future therapies for a variety of diseases,” Dr. Mark Wood said in a university release.
Although the stinky gas can be noxious in large doses, the researchers seem to think that a whiff here and there has the power to reduce risks of cancer, strokes, heart attacks, arthritis, and dementia by preserving mitochondria. Researchers are even coming up with their own compound to emulate the stinky smell’s health benefits.
“‘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,” Professor Matt Whiteman, who worked on the study to be published in the Medicinal Chemistry Communications journal, said.
So thank the guy in the elevator. While it might have seemed like the ride from hell, IT MIGHT JUST SAVE YOUR LIFE. Or not
http://time.com/2976464/scientists-say-smelling-farts-might-prevent-cancer/
“Although hydrogen sulfide gas”—produced when bacteria breaks down food—”is well known as a pungent, foul-smelling gas in rotten eggs and flatulence, it is naturally produced in the body and could in fact be a healthcare hero with significant implications for future therapies for a variety of diseases,” Dr. Mark Wood said in a university release.
Although the stinky gas can be noxious in large doses, the researchers seem to think that a whiff here and there has the power to reduce risks of cancer, strokes, heart attacks, arthritis, and dementia by preserving mitochondria. Researchers are even coming up with their own compound to emulate the stinky smell’s health benefits.
“‘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,” Professor Matt Whiteman, who worked on the study to be published in the Medicinal Chemistry Communications journal, said.
So thank the guy in the elevator. While it might have seemed like the ride from hell, IT MIGHT JUST SAVE YOUR LIFE. Or not
http://time.com/2976464/scientists-say-smelling-farts-might-prevent-cancer/
I'll inhale that.
Researchers discovered that methane from cows accounts for more than 30 percent of Argentina’s total greenhouse emissions. As one of the world’s largest beef producers, the country has more than 55 million cows grazing in its famed Pampas grasslands. Guillermo Berra, a researcher at the National Institute of Agricultural Technology, asserts that every cow produces between 8000 to 1,000 liters of emissions every day. Not to mention, methane – which is also discharged from coal mines, landfills, and leaking gas pipes – is 23 times more effective at trapping heat in the atmosphere than carbon dioxide. Analysts are now performing research trials of new diets planned to enhance digestion in cows and lessen the impact of climate change. Silvia Valtorta, of the National Council of Scientific and Technical Investigations, claims that by feeding cows clover and alfalfa instead of grain “you can reduce methane emissions by 25 percent”. Researchers have also recently discovered that kangaroo flatulence is methane-free, due to an unidentified bacteria. According to scientists, if they are able to infect cows with such a bacteria, it may possibly prevent global methane pollution. However, it would take years to segregate the bacteria, and scientists are clueless as to what impact the germ would have upon the health of cows.
