“Young Blood Good for Older People”

Studies with mice show that receiving a transfusion of young blood helps restore many aspects of the body and brain. Perhaps the old saying “We need some new blood” is really true.

Studies with mice at the University of Califo
ia Berkeley and Stanford University have found that taking old mice and giving them young blood helps revive and support better liver function. Old mice given young blood seemed to help the liver to regenerate from fibrosis and fatty liver disease. And because our liver is our first line of defense having a healthy liver is very important.

Studies show that old mice that are given young blood recover from tissue trauma much faster. Thus young blood seems to play a vital role in our ability to heal and recoup from exercise and trauma. Young blood given to old mice also helped muscles to heal faster, but did not give them any more strength, endurance, or stamina. It seems that the young blood only helped muscles to recover faster.
And young blood given to old mice showed a rejuvenation of their brain tissue and thus sluggish brains became vital and restored tissue. Thus old mice given young blood were better able to distinguish odors, had better memories, and did not respond to scary challenges. Plus brain scans show that every part of the brain received lots of different molecules that revitalized and restored function in every part of the brain. One of these molecules is GDF11 but there are hundreds yet to be tested.

It may be that inflammatory agents that cause health challenges as we age might be removed with the introduction of young blood. But more studies need to be done.
But when old blood was given to young mice there were almost immediate effects causing impairment of brain function. And all tissues including muscle and liver did not recover from stress and trauma. Thus old blood seems to cause detrimental effects on the body and brain.

In the future, we might be able to propagate young blood cells in the laboratory and give those cells which are rich in healing proteins to those in need of rejuvenating specific tissues. Just another possibility for the future of mankind.

Many Blessings to Everyone!

Dr. Paul Haider - Master Herbalist