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WhiskeyKid33 t1_jbpb555 wrote

It's so frustrating the sheer amount of things the bacteria in our gut can help with that we just don't know. I think - and this may be radical - but we should have open access to FMTs administered my professional medical personnel. It's been shown to have amazing results on auto-immune diseases, cancer, even things like alzheimers. The FDA is an important institution, yes but this thing seems like a no-brainer. The most important thing is screening of donors which can be done right now. It's infuriating that FMTs are used to only treat c-diff and even then it's hard to get. No drugs, no artificial biologics, nothing like that. Make them available!

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MaximilianKohler OP t1_jbpfxtg wrote

Replying to WhiskeyKid33 (#2,202,310)

I agree that FMT holds great potential, but it needs more research. How to select a safe and effective donor is unknown still. I've been trying to figure it out, and after screening 100k applicants I tried the #1 ranked donor and got worse.

It would be nice if other research groups would pair up with me to help try to figure out the donor quality puzzle.

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KeDoG3 t1_jbs0e0p wrote

Talked juat before the pandemic with a microbiologist at a university when we were both at a bar and caaually he mentioned he specializes in gut microbiome. Hewas saying how they weere finally cracking open just how important the ecosystem in our gut is for things beyond just digestion. He brought up how our immune system was very much dependant on how healthy the balance of the ecosystem in our gut is just like this article. One of the things he specifically was worried about was how our approach to oral antibiotics was such a blunt way of fighting bacterial infection because of how much is throws the ecosystem in our gut off. He called it like nuking your gut bacteria when we need to find antibiotics or other methods that target specific bacteria to not throw off the balance in the gut because we still didnt know the ramifications of seriously throwing off the balance of the gut ecosystem on the long term health of our bodies, for short term benefits. He mainly was talking about antibiotics that really are not necessary to fight serious or fatal infections mainly because he felt we are to trigger happy to throw antibiotics at any infection even if it thw body can manage it just fine on its own.

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MaximilianKohler OP t1_jbtahqw wrote

Replying to [deleted] (#2,206,994)

Chronic disease of all kinds has been increasing since the advent of antibiotics. Martin Blaser is a leader in the field and recently released a documentary called "The invisible extinction" about this.

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WhiskeyKid33 t1_jbu2ioy wrote

Replying to ScienceQuestions589 (#2,209,123)

Fecal Microbiota Transplant. The process of using a donors stool to equalize / improve gut flora. Over time, through the consumption of processed foods, sugars etc is thought to remove the "good" flora and feeds the "bad" flora. Things like smoking, not exercising, lack of sleep, antibiotics, alchohol also contribute to the health of these "good" and "bad" flora. Using a donors stool is a straight-forward way of supplying the gut with flora thought to balance the immune system and reduce the number of bad flora responsible for a potential litany of bad-juju.

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