Scientists say they have succeeded in identifying a method to treat aging with feces. In fact, the new method can control aging by reversing the aging process.
According to scientists, fecal transplantation has a very high potential compared to umbilical cord blood preservation and can be used to reverse the aging process. Probably, keeping and storing feces, or even creating a feces bank, will soon become a common issue in the near future.
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Treatment of aging with feces
Gut health researchers have decided to create a bank of stool samples in a similar way to what has been done to date for cord blood. They believe that fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT), which means the transfer of healthy bacteria found in feces, can help treat aging much more than cord blood.
Cord blood is rich in stem cells and can be used to treat some cancers, immune system defects, and some genetic disorders. But the new method can be the key to treating many diseases such as asthma, MS and diabetes, and experts believe that it may be used to treat obesity and aging in the future.
The proposal of this method was proposed by a team from Harvard Medical School and its details and explanation were published in the journal Trends in Molecular Medicine. FMT is also now used to treat frequent bacterial infections of the gut, such as Clostridium difficile.
The fecal transplant is performed with a tube that enters the stomach directly through the nose. But bacteria can be transferred directly to the colon through surgery or even swallowed with a pill.
For stool transplantation, a donated stool sample is required, which requires numerous health tests to ensure that there are no specific diseases. In the UK, donors receive £10 in cash for each poo donation, while in the US people can receive up to $50 for each poo donation!
Dr. Yang Yu Liu, one of the authors of the study, says that the advantages and disadvantages of transplanting intestinal bacteria with the new method are still a matter of debate and no definite decision has been made. He says:
The idea of ”restoring” the human microbiome has been raised in recent years and has been heavily discussed from medical, ethical and evolutionary perspectives, and it is still unknown whether people in industrialized societies can restore their ancestral state by restoring their microbiome. Health benefits or not.
Of course, Dr. Liu emphasizes that from now on to treat aging with feces, banks should be created where young people can store their feces in the hope of future developments. He says it’s just like preserving cord blood, which is rich in stem cells. Of course, it is predicted that only one out of every 200,000 children will need a umbilical cord donation.
Given the importance of gut bacteria in treating things like heart health, obesity and aging, stool banks could theoretically have more uses than cord blood banks, says Dr. Liu.
Scott Weiss, another member of the research team, also talks about the benefits of reusing one’s own feces, which can be less likely to cause unpleasant side effects such as fever, bloating, nausea and vomiting. But these complications can appear due to the difference between the intestinal bacteria of the donor and the recipient. Leo says:
Fecal microbiota transplantation has the potential to treat autoimmune diseases such as asthma, MS, inflammatory bowel disease, diabetes, obesity and even heart diseases and combat aging.
He said:
We do not anticipate that everyone in the community will be willing or able to pay for gut microbiome maintenance services.
Professor Shanlin Ke, one of the other researchers of the project, also says that more studies are needed to know the applications of the stool banking system. He said:
A major disadvantage of stool transplants is the need for long-term cryopreservation of stool samples, which usually requires liquid nitrogen storage.
Shanlin added:
Further research is needed to systematically test longer retention times and methods of preservation, resuscitation and culture to inform practical guidelines for stool banking.
The authors also emphasized that fecal transplantation is not a cure in itself and that other health interventions such as diet and other lifestyle changes may need to be used concurrently to treat different conditions.
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