Scientists want to create a bank of feces. They believe that the healthy bacteria found in feces provide more energy than the blood from the umbilical cord.
In the not-too-distant future, fecal microbiome transplants could reverse the aging process, researchers suggest.
Poo banks for rich people who want to revive
A recommendation made by a team at Harvard Medical School in the journal Trends in Molecular Medicine Specialists They suggest that faecal bacteria may be important in treating conditions such as asthma, multiple sclerosis and diabetes.
And experts believe that it could be used to treat obesity and aging in the future.
They envision people storing poop when they’re young to reverse old age later in life. But the storage costs are very high and this makes this option only for the rich.
Gut health researchers want to develop a stool test bench similar to what is already done with umbilical cord blood.
They believe that fecal microbiome transplantation (FMT) – the exchange of healthy bacteria found in the stool – offers “more potential” than stem cell-rich umbilical cord blood and could be used to treat certain types. CancerImmune system disorders and certain genetic disorders.
Stool replacement therapy is currently being used
FMTs are already used to treat recurrent bacterial intestinal infections such as Clostridium difficile.
These bacteria are usually delivered through a tube inserted directly through the nose into the stomach. But they can be surgically placed directly into the colon or swallowed with a pill.
The transplant is created with a stool sample from a donor who goes through a series of health tests to make sure he or she is free of any diseases.
In the UK, donors can receive £10 per donation, while people in the US can receive up to $50 (£41.30) per sample from some private clinics.
Dr. Yang-Yu Liu, one of the scientists supporting the need for stool banks, explained that the benefits of transplanting gut bacteria using stool samples collected from people when they were young and healthy are still being debated.
“The idea of a ‘wild’ human microbiome has grown in recent years and is hotly debated from medical, ethical and evolutionary perspectives.
“It is not yet known whether people in industrialized societies could gain some health benefits by restoring their microbiota to an ancestral state,” the researcher said.
But experts believe it’s time to create banks where young people can store their excrement as they await future innovations.
Although it’s estimated that only one in 200,000 babies will ever use such a cord sample, they imagine it’s similar to how some parents store the stem cell-rich blood found in the umbilical cord.
Considering the role of gut bacteria in obesity, heart health and aging, Dr. Liu, one of the scientists who published the scientific paper in the journal cited above, said bench seats could theoretically be more beneficial.
A transplant from their own stool
His colleague, Professor Scott Weiss, argued that benefits could come from reusing their own chairs, so we’ll talk about automated FMT.
In theory, this means there is less chance of unpleasant side effects such as fever, bloating, nausea, vomiting and constipation, which can be triggered by differences between the donor and recipient’s gut bacteria.
But the expert says he knows that not all individuals in our society are willing to pay the costs associated with the service of “rejuvenation” of their gut microbiome.
“To make the solution accessible to everyone by developing a reasonable business model and pricing strategy will require the collective strength of entrepreneurs, scientists and probably governments,” said the doctor.
How To Prevent Aging With Fecal Transplantation
A study on fish (African turquoise killifish) found that overnight incubation of older individuals with the gut contents of young individuals (an effective heterologous FMT) could induce long-term beneficial systemic effects, leading to prolonged lifespan and delayed behavioral decline.
A recent study in mice reported that microbiome transplantation from young donors to aged recipients could reverse differences in peripheral immunity and brain, hippocampal metabolism, and transcriptome of aged recipient mice and showed the ability to reduce selective deficits in cognition. Behavior when transplanted into an elderly host.
Similarly, a more recent study in mice showed that faecal microbiota transplantation from young to old mice could reverse several hallmarks of aging (eg, disrupted gut barrier integrity, systemic inflammation and tissue affecting the retina; and brain). We anticipate that autologous FMT (stool samples collected from the host at a young and healthy age) will be a robust therapeutic approach to promote healthy host aging (with stool samples collected from the donor).
How to lose weight with stool transplant surgery
A study in rats showed that autologous FMT (taking one’s own feces before developing obesity) moderated the effects of caloric restriction on weight loss. Weight in induced obese rats Diet Too much fat, by reducing the effectiveness of food and increasing the lipolysis of adipose tissue.
A recent human study evaluated the efficacy and safety of diet-modulated autonomic FMT for the treatment of weight recovery after a weight loss phase.
This study found that autologous FMT (with a stool sample collected during the weight loss phase and administered during the recovery phase) combined with a green Mediterranean diet significantly reduced weight regain. In addition, the effect of autophagic FMT on weight gain correlates with microbiome-specific signatures and diet.
Experts expect that stool samples collected from a healthy lean previous stage will make autologous FMT a powerful integrative intervention for obesity.
Disadvantages of stool banking
Shanlin Kay, a researcher at Harvard, added that more research needs to be done on the practicalities of such armchair banking.
“A major disadvantage of autotransplantation is the need for long-term cryopreservation of stool samples, which usually requires storage in liquid nitrogen,” said the expert.
“Further research is needed to systematically test longer storage times and preservation, resuscitation and cultivation practices to inform practical guidelines for faecal storage.”
The authors point out that stool transplants are not a panacea in themselves, and other health interventions such as diet and other lifestyle changes may be needed to treat various diseases.
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