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Since it's already been purported to work the other way (fecal transplant from overweight individual causes rapid weight gain [1]) it may become the next big di

Since it's already been purported to work the other way (fecal transplant from overweight individual causes rapid weight gain [1]) it may become the next big diet fad. That would be a nice biohack. -- [1]: http://www.bbc.com/news/health-31168511 http://www.bbc.com/news/health-31168511

wdewind 10y ago
Please don't get science news from BBC. This is a sample size of 1, in a person who was probably already eating a ton and not absorbing it much due to a massive infection. There's not a ton we can take from this.
- gingerrr 10y ago
  I did say 'purported', and the BBC is basing their story on an case study from the Oxford Journal for infectious diseases, which was linked in the first paragraph of the article: http://ofid.oxfordjournals.org/content/2/1/ofv004.full http://ofid.oxfordjournals.org/content/2/1/ofv004.full. Since you have an issue with the sample size, please point me to the nearest full-scale fecal transplant study done and I'll gladly use those results. >in a person who was probably already eating a ton and not absorbing it much due to a massive infection. Source? Let's not criticize others for their sources and then make unsupported drive-by claims. edit: "article" --> "case study"
  - wdewind 10y ago
    There is some interesting stuff in that case study, but there is nothing we can generalize from it. That's the point. There are no full scale fecal transplant studies looking into obesity to my knowledge. > Source? Let's not criticize others for their sources and then make unsupported drive-by claims. You're right, but upon digging deeper into the study it's even worse: neither her, nor the person she took the fecal sample from, were obese at the time of transplant. Both became obese after the treatment. The source of the transplant was her daughter, so I can imagine a lot of environmental factors effecting both of them. It's hard to imagine the donor becoming obese because of the transplant... The point here is there are a TON of other obvious variables to examine, and gut flora may really play a role, but there is really not substantial evidence to think that's true. Regardless of if it is true, it doesn't change much for outcomes: you still have to eat less, you still have to workout more.
amelius 10y ago
Ignoring feasibility, how about a full fecal AND blood transplant?

wdewind 10y ago

Please don't get science news from BBC. This is a sample size of 1, in a person who was probably already eating a ton and not absorbing it much due to a massive infection. There's not a ton we can take from this.

gingerrr 10y ago
I did say 'purported', and the BBC is basing their story on an case study from the Oxford Journal for infectious diseases, which was linked in the first paragraph of the article: http://ofid.oxfordjournals.org/content/2/1/ofv004.full http://ofid.oxfordjournals.org/content/2/1/ofv004.full. Since you have an issue with the sample size, please point me to the nearest full-scale fecal transplant study done and I'll gladly use those results. >in a person who was probably already eating a ton and not absorbing it much due to a massive infection. Source? Let's not criticize others for their sources and then make unsupported drive-by claims. edit: "article" --> "case study"
- wdewind 10y ago
  There is some interesting stuff in that case study, but there is nothing we can generalize from it. That's the point. There are no full scale fecal transplant studies looking into obesity to my knowledge. > Source? Let's not criticize others for their sources and then make unsupported drive-by claims. You're right, but upon digging deeper into the study it's even worse: neither her, nor the person she took the fecal sample from, were obese at the time of transplant. Both became obese after the treatment. The source of the transplant was her daughter, so I can imagine a lot of environmental factors effecting both of them. It's hard to imagine the donor becoming obese because of the transplant... The point here is there are a TON of other obvious variables to examine, and gut flora may really play a role, but there is really not substantial evidence to think that's true. Regardless of if it is true, it doesn't change much for outcomes: you still have to eat less, you still have to workout more.

amelius 10y ago

Ignoring feasibility, how about a full fecal AND blood transplant?