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Fecal transplants for autism deliver success in clinical trials (refractor.io)
submitted 3 months ago by to c/science@hexbear.net
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[–] 4 points 3 months ago (3 children)

Could this mean that fecal transplants are generally useful? The mechanism it proposes is that microbial diversity helps with autism symptoms. Does the helping peter out when a person reaches typical microbial diversity, or could somebody with typical microbial diversity reap some benefits by increasing it from there? How far is a typical person from the theoretical peak microbial diversity where they have a population of pretty much every microbe that's in somebody's gut?

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  • [–] 7 points 3 months ago

    I guess it's more like 'having gut microbes that can help you digest the food you eat is helpful', and less pokemon collecting all the microbes that can grow in your gut. H. pylori can grow in your gut, but you probably don't want it.

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  • [–] 6 points 3 months ago

    generally useful in terms of autism or generally useful in other fields of medicine? because the latter is ABSOLUTELY true.

    I don't think it's really possible for there to be a peak diversity like you describe, though. changing your diet even slightly compared to your usual meals is enough to radically change the balance of organisms in your gut, and the reproductive time for most bacteria means spontaneous changes in DNA can change this balance within hours.

    this does make me think, that perhaps a dialectical approach to managing gut health would benefit those taking on research in gastrointestinal medicine.

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