Poo transplants and probiotics – does anything work to improve the health of our gut?

[AussieNeil]

'For more than one hundred years, we believed avoiding bugs or removing them from our system was the simplest way to improve our health.

But while tremendous public health advances have come from controlling dangerous pathogens, we now understand the trillions of other bacteria that live in our body – and in particular, our gut – perform a range of important functions.

So when, and how, should we try to manipulate these microorganisms, collectively referred to as our microbiome?'

University of Sydney academics Andrew Holmes, Associate Professor, Laurence Macia, Senior Research Fellow in Physiology, School Medical Sciences and Stephen J Simpson, Professor, ARC Laureate Fellow & Academic Director, The Charles Perkins Centre explain the promise and limitations of

- Poo Transplants

- Probiotics

- Next-generation probiotics

in improving the health of our gut: theconversation.com/poo-tra...

Note that probiotics are not without risk if you are severely neutropenic.

Neil

[Cllcanada Top Poster CURE Hero]

More on the risks of probiotics in immunocompromised patients from a few years ago..

healthunlocked.com/cllsuppo...

[shoshanaz in reply to Cllcanada]

Thanks. Another good reminder that we need to be careful in applying lessons learned in a healthy population to what works and is safe for those who are not well.

[pitbull]

Interesting read. As a rider with the Blood Bikes, our group is the main group for "poo transplant" delivery from the Heartlands hospital in Birmingham.

We have taken these to many hospitals in the 18 month or so we have been doing the service with the number of runs increasing. We know these are making a difference and even saving lives.

The poo runs as our riders call them are getting more frequent.

[Cllcanada Top Poster CURE Hero]

I have been writing about Fecal transplants for years... here is a link for those wishing the back story...

healthunlocked.com/search/f...

They are used in serious situations in CLL, particularly C.difficile, and they do save lives...particularly in chronic C.diff with a cure rate of 90%.

~chris