Though most of us may find it quite embarrassing in case we were caught breaking wind, a new study has in fact suggested flatulence could help patients with high blood pressure
Scientists at Johns Hopkins University, in Baltimore, Maryland, US, have found that hydrogen sulphide in flatus - informally known as a fart - is also produced by an enzyme in blood vessels where it relaxes them and lowers blood pressure, The Sun reported.
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Hydrogen sulphide -- a toxic gas generated by bacteria living in the human gut -- has been shown to control blood pressure in mice. Those with higher levels of the gas had lower blood pressure than rodents with less.
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Researchers at a Chinese university in Nanjing are trying to work out whether this could be used to create a treatment for people suffering from high blood pressure.
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Yao Yuyu from the university's Zhongda Hospital said: "Despite the treatment's potential, using gas to treat high blood pressure has yet to be tested on humans.
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"The effective dosage could prove difficult to establish due to the difference in size between humans and mice."
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