Don’t throw away that nappy! In 2018, researchers started looking into the possible benefits of consuming the probiotics naturally found in baby faeces. A “cocktail” of faecal extractions has already been proven to benefit lab mice.
Supplements, yoghurts and breads featuring probiotics have become commonplace in our supermarkets over the past decade, as the benefits of the microrganisms for our digestive systems have become increasingly pronounced by health specialists.
So much so, that researchers have been looking all over to find new sources for the microrganisms – even in babies’ diapers.
Scientists at Wake Forest School of Medicine in 2018 developed a probiotic “cocktail” derived from gut bacteria strains found in infant faeces that may help increase the body’s ability to produce short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs), which are in short supply in those suffering from certain illnesses.
“People with diabetes, obesity, autoimmune disorders and cancers frequently have fewer short-chain fatty acids,” said the study’s lead investigator, Hariom Yadav, PhD, assistant professor of molecular medicine at Wake Forest School of Medicine.
“Increasing them may be helpful in maintaining or even restoring a normal gut environment, and hopefully, improving health.”
Yadav’s team collected samples from the diapers of 34 healthy infants. After safely extracting the Lactobacillus and Enterococcus strains – which have probiotic attributes – the researchers gave a dose of the cocktail to lab mice and human faecal matter to test its ability to change the gut microbiome.
The scientists found that the production of SCFAs in mouse gut and human faeces was significantly enhanced by the dosage. “This work provides evidence that these human-origin probiotics could be exploited as biotherapeutic regimens for human diseases,” said Yadav.
“Our data should be useful for future studies aimed at investigating the influence of probiotics on human microbiome, metabolism and associated diseases.” – dpa
