Bacteria that cause stomach ulcers and cancer could also be giving us bad breath, according to researchers.

A team at Fukuoka Dental College in Japan found Helicobacter pylori living in the mouths of people who were not showing signs of stomach disease.

H. pylori has recently been shown to cause stomach ulcers and is also responsible for a large proportion of gastric cancers, according to a news release. Between 80 and 90 percent of people carry it.

Dr. Nao Suzuki tested patients complaining of halitosis.

He found the bacteria in the mouths of 21 out of 326 Japanese people with halitosis; that's 6.4 percent. In these people, the concentration of a bad breath gas and the level of oral disease was significantly higher. People with gum disease had a 15.7 percent chance of having H. pylori.

The work was published in the December issue of the Journal of Medical Microbiology.