Could poo transplants CURE diabetes? Procedure ‘brings blood sugar levels back to normal in just two weeks’
THERE’s a new era of medical therapy dawning – and it may come as a bit of a surprise.
Poo transplants are poised to help combat a range of conditions, from deadly superbugs to obesity – and now diabetes is in the firing line.
A new study suggests the technique could help eradicate the potentially life-threatening condition – with a little help from a compound found in red wine.
Resveratrol is a powerful antioxidant, found in the skin of red grapes and red wine.
The natural compound has been found to boost exercise performance, reduce blood pressure, improve heart health and earlier this week a study found it could delay brain ageing.
But, now a team of scientists at the University of Alberta, believe it – combined with a poo transplant – could help beat diabetes.
The discovery could offer hope to the 4.5million people in the UK living with diabetes.
Experts estimate another 1.1million could have the condition but have not been diagnosed.
WHAT IS A POO TRANSPLANT?
Faecal microbiota transplant, or FMT, is a recognised procedure, used by doctors in a small number of cases to treat recurrent superbug C.diff infections.
It is only used when other treatments, such as long-term antibiotics, have failed.
How is it performed?
The treatment should only ever be performed by a qualified doctor.
It involves collecting a stool sample from a donor, who is tested to ensure they carry no harmful bugs and have the correct bacteria in their digestive tracts to help combat the bug.
The sample is then mixed with saline, strained and placed into the patient via a colonoscopy, endoscopy or an enema.
How does it work?
FMT aims to replace good bacteria that has been killed or suppressed, often by the use of antibiotics.
This killing of good bacteria allows bad bacteria, specifically C.diff, to over-populate the colon.
The infection can then lead to a condition called C.diff colitis, which causes painful and sometimes fatal diarrhoea.
By restoring the balance of bacteria in the intestines, the idea is that the patient will be better able to fight infection.
Who can be a donor?
Donors can be family members, or others who are known to you.
But, they must:
- be tested for a wide array of bacterial and parasitic infections
- be free of health problems
- lead a healthy lifestyle
Donors are screened for a range of infectious diseases, including HIV, hepatitis A, B and C and syphilis.
Source: Guy’s and St Thomas’ Hospital
Past studies in obese patients has shown those treated with resveratrol had lower blood sugar levels.
But, experts have been at a loss to explain how resveratrol works.
Professor Jason Dyck, and his team looked at how the compound affects the bacteria in the guts of fat mice.
Their first experiment showed feeding resveratrol to obese mice of a six-week period altered the make-up of the bacteria levels in their intestines – improving their tolerance for sugar.
But, a second experiment showed even more promising results.
The scientists fed healthy mice resveratrol
for eight weeks.
They then collected poo samples from those mice, and performed a faecal transplant into obese mice with insulin resistance – a marker of diabetes.
Prof Dyck said the results, published in the journal Diabetes, were “striking”, with more dramatic and rapid effects compared with giving the fat mice resveratrol directly.
“Whatever was in this faecal material was more potent and efficacious than the resveratrol itself,” said Prof Dyck, also a member of the Alberta Diabetes Institute.
“We performed faecal transplants in pre-diabetic obese mice and within two weeks their blood sugar levels were almost back to normal.”
Prof Dyck says his team was initially unsure if the faecal transplant was altering the gut microbiome in the mice or if it was producing a metabolite that was behind the effect.
To me, this is very exciting. If there’s a small molecule in the faecal material that we can identify, we may be able to rapidly advance this into human testing
Professor Jason Dyck
However, he is now convinced that the dramatic change is the result of something in the faecal matter.
He said: “We’re trying to isolate this unknown compound, with the hopes of using it as a potential treatment for impaired glucose homeostasis in obesity.”
“To me, this is very exciting,” Prof Dyck added.
“If there’s a small molecule in the faecal material that we can identify, we may be able to rapidly advance this into human testing.”
The team believes the findings could open the door to new therapies for diabetes patients in the future.
However, Prof Dyck said it’s already clear that their work is far from done.
“It’s going to take a herculean effort to find what that molecule is” he admitted.