Your Poop Might Make You Live Longer

So umm yeah, gross right! Well hold on it appears there is some valid science going on. In a recent study at Emory University School of Medicine, they have been conducting research into using your stool to extend your life. It turns our the research holds some interesting results. Dr. Daniel Kalman is leading the smelly but productive research team.

The researchers found that an organic compound found in the gut which incidentally also gives your waste its unique and smelly result is called indole. The indole product can actually increase the lifespan of cells. They have been using nematode worms to show that they could increase the health span on the worms using the indole. This doesn't mean your lifespan is increased directly but that the resistance to age-related disease is increased.

The team has also started using the compound on mice and are seeing similar results in the mice as the worms. They are now hypothesizing that indoles can help increase the healthy lifespan of humans based on the animal model but they are still far out from human trials.

Here to hoping that our poop will give us a healthy long life.

Sources:

• http://www.pnas.org/content/114/36/E7506.abstract
• http://pathology.emory.edu/AdminFacultyMember.cfm?Name_seq=689