The latest anti-aging hack: poo

The quest for eternal youth may be heading to a strange place: the can. New research on rodents shows that fecal transplants— excrement transferred from one body to another—can reduce the effects of aging. The theory, reports the New York Post, is that replacing old gut bacteria with new may help lower inflammation. The study divided rodents into three groups by age: three months, 18 months, and two years. Each group was fed an unpleasant-sounding “fecal slurry” made from the dung of younger or older peers. The older mice fortified with younger poo proved to be better protected against inflammation-related illnesses, particularly those affecting the brain and eyes. Meanwhile, the younger group given an older poop transplant developed inflammation in the brain and showed early signs of aging. “We hope that our findings will contribute ultimately to understanding how we can manipulate our diet and our gut bacteria to maximize good health in later life,” says lead author Aimée Parker, from the U.K.’s Quadram Institute. She says if similar results are seen in humans, people could one day take a “poo pill” supplement to stave off aging.