STOOL TRANSPLANT may HELP TREAT OBESITY and DIABETES?
GASTROENTEROLOGY NERD ALERT:
STOOL TRANSPLANT may HELP TREAT OBESITY and DIABETES?
Can fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) help treat obesity and diabetes? Check out this article in Med Page Today that summarizes two studies presented last week at the Digestive Disease Week conference.
The studies “demonstrated that FMT can safely lead to sustained changes in recipients’ microbiomes. Whether that will translate into actually helping patients lose weight or treat their diabetes, however, remains to be seen.”
https://www.medpagetoday.com/meetingcoverage/ddw/79957
Jessica Allegretti, MD, MPH, Director, Fecal Microbiota Transplant Program, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston presented a pilot study which evaluated 22 obese individuals (BMI ≥35), without any conditions associated with obesity, such as diabetes or metabolic syndrome. In this 12-week trial, half of the participants received an induction of 30 FMT capsules, with additional 12-capsule doses at 4 and 8 weeks, while the others received placebo. The FMT capsules came from a single female “lean” donor with a BMI of 17.”
While the procedure appeared relatively safe, no change in body weight was seen. “But participants’ microbiota did change with FMT, with the microbial makeup of their stools becoming more similar to that of the donor. Allegretti said her group believed 12 weeks was not enough to see changes in body weight, and therefore it wasn’t a primary outcome in the trial.”
A second study showed similar findings. “These two findings are actually fairly consistent with previous ones that were published, which is that fecal transplant is not going to be a silver bullet for obesity,” said Amir Zarrinpar, MD, PhD, of the University of California San Diego, who moderated the session at DDW.
Zarrinpar told MedPage Today that these two studies, as well as previous ones, “have been investigational in the sense they’ve given fecal transplants without doing what we would normally do to treat obesity, which is have patients see a nutritionist, and have them go through behavioral therapy as well.”
FMT could possibly be effective if performed “the same way that we would test a drug, which is to put it on top of these normal interventions,” he said, adding that he wouldn’t expect a weight-loss benefit from FMT “if it’s just alone with nothing, in terms of affecting weight or affecting diabetes.”
But, Zarrinpar said, “is there still potential there? Maybe.”
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