Does IBS (irritable bowel syndrome) lower the risk of cancer?

Question

There has been an interesting study which says that smelling farts helps decrease the risk of cancer. Basically the study says:

hydrogen sulfide — a.k.a. what your body produces as bacteria breaks down food, causing gas — could prevent mitochondria damage

Does this mean that the more gas you have inside yourself (or the more hydrogen sulfide you have) the lower the risks (more protection) are for cancer to appear. I myself do have IBS and pass a good amount of gas every evening.

Is it possible that a "disease" such as IBS could contribute to a persons health in another way to reduce risk of cancer?

Answer 1

The study authors have released a statement on their institutional website that states:

That neither the papers (http://pubs.rsc.org/en/Content/ArticleLanding/2014/MD/C3MD00323J#!divAbstract, http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24755204, http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25960429, http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26513708, and http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25555533) nor the accompanying press release above make any reference at all to cancer or to any health benefits from inhaling (sniffing) hydrogen sulfide. The research is an early stage drug development project and has not yet been trialled in humans.

At present the only contribution that we know that IBS might bring is that the sufferer might get more investigations done which reveal other unrelated conditions.