Wait for it …
This one didn’t pass the smell test.
Headlines dotting the Internet the last few days claimed that whiffing flatulence “might prevent cancer” or “is good for your health,” etc., based off of a report from the University of Exeter (U.K.) about its work regarding the medical benefits of hydrogen sulfide. Hydrogen sulfide contributes to the foul smell of gas and rotten eggs, and research has found that it could be an ally in fighting serious disease and internal injury.
But the work undertaken by the Exeter scientists concerned the delivery of small quantities of hydrogen sulfide to cells via a new compound, AP39, not the olfactory.
“You’ll see that we have not looked at flatus (or cancer) and nobody has stated or implied that sniffing flatus would be beneficial for health,” Professor Matt Whiteman, one of the Exeter researchers on the AP39 project, told Red Alert in an email. (We’re dropping the “Politics” portion of the name for this one.)
Whiteman added that his and his colleagues’ work suggested that the newly created compound — “not sniffing flatus” — “may provide a novel and useful therapeutic approach” to treating diseases like diabetes.
“I’m not sure how the internet silliness / headlines originated.”
So be advised: Scientists are not advocating that the sick lock themselves inside rooms full of bean-eating cowboys.
