On June 23rd, many people questioned what researchers were saying when an article came up with absurd advice, “saving your poop now could save your life someday.” In that paper, the researchers argue for FMT or fecal microbiota transplantation – saving your poop for later uses.
The researchers wrote in their paper, “[c]onsidering the massive (and possibly permanent) loss of our microbial diversity due to industrial advances, the creation of a global ‘microbial Noah’s ark’ is warranted to protect the long-term health of humanity.”
They also said, “[h]owever, considering the highly personalized gut microbial compositions and the donor-recipient compatibility issue, creating a personal microbial Noah’s ark using stool banks for future personal use might also be a worthwhile option.”
One option for FMT is Heterologous FMT, when the healthy poop from a donor is transplanted into another person’s body to restore all the microorganisms in your gut, making the recipient of FMT healthier. The FDA is still reviewing FMT and has not approved it yet – Food and Drug Administration – but they do allow patients infected with Clostridioides difficile, or C. Diff. Colitis to use FMT.
Researchers also proved that microorganisms in your gut play a massive role in your health and mental and physical states. The idea the researchers have is the poop from the donor is going to be placed in your gut. There, the microorganisms from the donor’s poop will repopulate your gut with microorganisms making you healthier. Because of this, heterologous FMT can cure people with Colostridioides difficile 90% of the time.
Another type of FMT is called autologous FMT. The researchers suggest that it can rebuild a patient’s gut microbiome after combating cancer with chemotherapy and heavy use of antibiotics.
An assistant professor at Stanford University, Christine Kee Liu, who is not affiliated with the paper, thinks that autologous FMT is possible and can be done.
“I think there are significant hurdles, both logical and scientific,” Liu said. “But I wouldn’t be surprised if this became a viable treatment in the next couple of decades. Science and medicine have achieved ‘the impossible’ before — look at the Covid-19 vaccines.”
Autologous and heterologous FMT helps patients with gut problems a lot because it helps give many types of microorganisms into your body. With different types of microbiota, your body gets healthier. Study shows that in 2022, people with more biodiversity in their guts are less likely to have heart failure. Older people with more biodiversity in their guts tend to be healthier and live longer than most.
Over the past decade, researchers have shown no evidence of stopping researching the gut. The FDA is particularly interested in developing drugs to cure or prevent diseases. The FDA might approve a drug that can be used as an alternative for FMT for Clostridioides difficile.
OpenBiome opened the first public stool bank in America. Its mission is the make FMT easier, safer, and available to many people. But to fulfill their promise of making FMT safe, they have to make sure the poop being stored does not contain any unwanted material. This is why the acceptance rate for poop stored is only 3%.
Using autologous and heterologous FMT is still a new way of improving gut health. But for most people, the best course of action to maintaining good gut health is to have a healthy diet.
The researchers wrote in their paper, “[c]onsidering the massive (and possibly permanent) loss of our microbial diversity due to industrial advances, the creation of a global ‘microbial Noah’s ark’ is warranted to protect the long-term health of humanity.”
They also said, “[h]owever, considering the highly personalized gut microbial compositions and the donor-recipient compatibility issue, creating a personal microbial Noah’s ark using stool banks for future personal use might also be a worthwhile option.”
One option for FMT is Heterologous FMT, when the healthy poop from a donor is transplanted into another person’s body to restore all the microorganisms in your gut, making the recipient of FMT healthier. The FDA is still reviewing FMT and has not approved it yet – Food and Drug Administration – but they do allow patients infected with Clostridioides difficile, or C. Diff. Colitis to use FMT.
Researchers also proved that microorganisms in your gut play a massive role in your health and mental and physical states. The idea the researchers have is the poop from the donor is going to be placed in your gut. There, the microorganisms from the donor’s poop will repopulate your gut with microorganisms making you healthier. Because of this, heterologous FMT can cure people with Colostridioides difficile 90% of the time.
Another type of FMT is called autologous FMT. The researchers suggest that it can rebuild a patient’s gut microbiome after combating cancer with chemotherapy and heavy use of antibiotics.
An assistant professor at Stanford University, Christine Kee Liu, who is not affiliated with the paper, thinks that autologous FMT is possible and can be done.
“I think there are significant hurdles, both logical and scientific,” Liu said. “But I wouldn’t be surprised if this became a viable treatment in the next couple of decades. Science and medicine have achieved ‘the impossible’ before — look at the Covid-19 vaccines.”
Autologous and heterologous FMT helps patients with gut problems a lot because it helps give many types of microorganisms into your body. With different types of microbiota, your body gets healthier. Study shows that in 2022, people with more biodiversity in their guts are less likely to have heart failure. Older people with more biodiversity in their guts tend to be healthier and live longer than most.
Over the past decade, researchers have shown no evidence of stopping researching the gut. The FDA is particularly interested in developing drugs to cure or prevent diseases. The FDA might approve a drug that can be used as an alternative for FMT for Clostridioides difficile.
OpenBiome opened the first public stool bank in America. Its mission is the make FMT easier, safer, and available to many people. But to fulfill their promise of making FMT safe, they have to make sure the poop being stored does not contain any unwanted material. This is why the acceptance rate for poop stored is only 3%.
Using autologous and heterologous FMT is still a new way of improving gut health. But for most people, the best course of action to maintaining good gut health is to have a healthy diet.
