Gut Microbiota Transplants: Potential Dangers

Roughly one year ago, this newsletter covered the findings presented in a popular Netflix documentary entitled, “Hack Your Health.”

The documentary covered some interesting views on the relationship between digestion, the gut microbiome, and human health, including examples where your microbiome might actually impact your brain, in terms of affecting anxiety levels and feelings of depression.

One highly-contentious area of study involves the rise of fecal microbiome transplants, which is being explored by some individuals who are looking to radically change an unhealthy gut microbiome by ingesting feces from individuals that have healthy gut microbiomes.

For example, this procedure is being performed by some individuals who face severe problems with their gut.

The documentary points out that there are notable risks to these types of procedures, and the videos included are graphic, to say the least.

An recent article published by Neuroscience News highlights some potential risks associated with this procedure, as some of the bacteria (coming from the colon) of donors has a risk of colonizing the upper intestines.

In response, researchers at the University of Chicago noted that “omni-microbial transplants” might be better than fecal microbial transplants, as they contain microbes from all regions of the intestines, not simply the colon.

Have you taken our FREE 30-Day Gluten-Free Challenge Quiz yet? Check it out!