Are there any downsides to messing with your gut bacteria? I seem to see a strong bias of positive studies, but if our gut bacteria is as important as it seems to be, shouldn't there also be horrible outcomes to these kinds of experiments?
There is also evidence that fecal transplant recipients take on physical and mental traits of the donor.
Quoting from https://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-05-09/faecal-transplant-sid....
"There have been people who have taken on the shape of the donor, such as if the donor is either overweight or underweight they've become more like that."
"There's even been reports of some people who have never been depressed getting a transplant from someone who's had depression and ending up with their first episode of depression after that."
But yeah, reading the stories like what you linked is why I am very wary - I really want to be able to get a prepared mix of isolated, cultured, known good bacteria that can be inserted in to just seed some more of the good stuff. I think that removes a lot more of the ‘ick’ factor (even if the bacteria strains were originally isolated from faecal samples) even though what I have is bad enough that I would totally do a normal FMT if I thought it was safe enough!
Step two pretend to be a 6'6" Olympian fit to leave 100 years and die a barely aged god with great hair in Indiana Jonesque adventure.
Step three omitted for grossness.
Step four profit!
Then I heard about this probiotic bacteria called limosilactobacillus reuteri which was implicated in a bunch of studies as something that they used to find in people's guts back before processed food really became a huge thing and all these very clear links to a variety health effects (I'll just link the wiki page) [1]. When I went to the store it was the most expensive on the shelf, 40$, but I figured why not and got a couple of them. Haven't had any gut issues since.
I think there's worse things you can do to your guts than using the right probiotics for sure.
I think they identified compounds this bacteria makes that kills off and outcompetes others which may be causing you problems basically
Not sure how well tracked it is for less-official/more DIY attempts.
Lots of others have had positive effects, but there's definitely some risk involved.
Reminds me, it's probably time to source some more kefir grains!
Then again, it seems like in general the biggest gut bacteria problems come from an overpopulation of one type and not enough diversity which intervention seems less likely to cause.
There are also parasites which could be transferred but I really doubt that this would happen accidentally (hookworms, tapeworms, other things I don't know about).
But this is always a good thought.
If some treatment has the capability to actually help, it also has the capability to harm, there really isn't such thing as something which is exclusively good regardless of how you use it.
In my case, I had debilitating health issues after a round of food poisoning that nearly took my life. In my specific case, the FMT's have helped a lot. Certainly, it is not without risks; however, one can minimize their risks by testing donor's stool, and asking for a full mental and physical evaluation to be performed.