WEBVTT - How Gut Bacteria Could Become Your Next Sports Drink

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to brain Stuff from How Stuff Works. Hey, brain Stuff,

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<v Speaker 1>It's Christian saga. Are you feeling sluggish during your runs?

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<v Speaker 1>In the near future, Rather than reaching for an energy drink,

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<v Speaker 1>you may opt to chuck a concoction of your favorite athletes.

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<v Speaker 1>Gut Bugs, a team of microbiotic researchers affiliated with Harvard

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<v Speaker 1>University Medical School plan to launch a company this fall.

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<v Speaker 1>The aims to find and purify the best bugs from

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<v Speaker 1>the feces of elite athletes and then market them as

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<v Speaker 1>probiotics supplements in pill liquid or powder form. The company

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<v Speaker 1>in the works, fit Biomics, taps a swiftly expanding field

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<v Speaker 1>of science analyzing the human microbiome. Now that news may

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<v Speaker 1>be repellent to some, but the massive micro organism swarming

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<v Speaker 1>inside our bodies also smacks of a great business opportunity.

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<v Speaker 1>According to a t the sixteen assessment published in the

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<v Speaker 1>journal Cell, every person hosts at least tens of trillions

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<v Speaker 1>of micro organisms, and that amounts to about five pounds

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<v Speaker 1>or two point three kils of bacteria and other micro organisms.

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<v Speaker 1>The trillions of microbes in each person's microbiome work in

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<v Speaker 1>concert with the human body to fend off disease, promote digestion,

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<v Speaker 1>facilitate fuel burning, aid in recovery, and even sharpen mental

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<v Speaker 1>health and acuity. Now some believe that feeding the right

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<v Speaker 1>mix of microbes to our guts could offer a new

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<v Speaker 1>approach to enhancing athletic performance. Rather than using sophisticated genetic

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<v Speaker 1>sequencing technology to zero in on disease causing microbes, why

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<v Speaker 1>not hunt for microbes that help support elite athletes instead. Now,

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<v Speaker 1>fit biomics aren't the only scientists interested in athletes poop.

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<v Speaker 1>Lauren Peterson, a professional mountain bike racer and a postdoctoral

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<v Speaker 1>associate at the Jackson Laboratory for Genomic Medicine in Farmington, Connecticut,

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<v Speaker 1>has sampled cyclists FECs to determine what makes the top

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<v Speaker 1>athletes microbiomes unique. In a paper recently published in the

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<v Speaker 1>journal Microbiome, Peterson and Jack's professor George Weinstock noted an

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<v Speaker 1>abundance of two microbes in the top cyclists micro bioms.

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<v Speaker 1>One is thought to play a role in breaking down

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<v Speaker 1>carbohydrates for fuel, and the other could play a role

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<v Speaker 1>in recovery. Researchers at University College Cork in Ireland, meanwhile

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<v Speaker 1>isolated what they believe is a critical microbe from fecal

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<v Speaker 1>samples of Irish rugby players. The bacterium has been linked

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<v Speaker 1>with a lowered risk for obesity and systemic inflammation. Another group,

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<v Speaker 1>associated with the University of California at San Diego is

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<v Speaker 1>looking at how the microbio elms of surfers may be

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<v Speaker 1>unique and perhaps encompass microbiomes associated with their local ocean environments.

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<v Speaker 1>Other groups are casting their microbiome nets even wider. The

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<v Speaker 1>American Gut Project is a crowdsourced venture housed in the

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<v Speaker 1>lab of renowned UCSD biologist Robert Knight. The group solicits

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<v Speaker 1>fecal samples from people all around the world in an

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<v Speaker 1>effort to build a comprehensive library of microbiome communities. The

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<v Speaker 1>project includes samples from UCSD athletes, but is far more

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<v Speaker 1>focused on improving overall science in the microbiome field than

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<v Speaker 1>on enhancing athletic performance. Today's episode was written by Amanda Onion,

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<v Speaker 1>produced by Dylan Fagan and from More on this and

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<v Speaker 1>other topics, please visit us at how stuff works dot com.