As more and more Americans strive to live healthier lives, many are eating healthier and exercising more, all of which is a good thing.

Last Saturday, I had to go to a local hospital for a test prescribed by my doctor. The appointment was quite early and didn’t take that long. On the way home, I saw dozens of people, young and old, jogging and walking. At first, I wondered if there was an organized run or walk, but none of the joggers or walkers were wearing any kind of number, so it was only logical to assume that they were just exercising. Not long ago, you would not have seen this many people out sweating on an early Saturday morning.

Another health craze that has caught on, over the past couple of decades is eating yogurt because of the healthy bacteria it contains. More recently, kombucha has also gained in popularity. Kombucha is a black or green tea that contains a fermented culture that is supposed to contain a healthy culture of yeasts and bacteria.

Collectively, these healthy bacteria and yeasts are referred to as probiotics. Not all bacteria are bad. In fact, without some good bacteria, we would all starve to death. Our guts contain millions, perhaps billions, of good bacteria that helps to digest our food and drinks. They help our bodies extract the good nutrients from what we eat and drink.

Have you ever wondered why so often when you run a fever, that you lose your appetite or many foods make you nauseous? It’s because some of the good bacteria in your gut is killed off by the fever, making it impossible for you to digest the food. Hence the old saying – feed a cold, starve a fever.

After you are ill and recover from the fever, it’s always best to start with a light or soft diet, because your gut needs a chance to replenish the depleted good bacteria. Probiotics are thought to be a good way to help replenish the missing bacteria.

When healthy, many still believe that probiotics helps keep us healthy. They make yogurt and/or kombucha a regular part of their diets. Many others take probiotic supplements.

Not everyone is convinced that taking probiotics on a regular basis actually improves one’s health. Research is still trying to find hard evidence to support the claim. Yet, millions fully believe in the benefits of probiotics.

Researchers at the Wake Forest School of Medicine have been conducting studies on probiotics and believe they have discovered a new source for a healthy probiotic that will help bolster gut health and also help support the immune system.

Are you ready? Open wide and get ready to take their new probiotic cocktail derived from baby poop.

Hariom Yadav, the lead researcher explained:

“What we found is bacteria isolated in baby poop produce higher amounts of short-chain fatty acids. That could help people with … diabetes, obesity, cancers, autoimmune diseases and older people.”

“Adults do also have the good bacteria, but the babies’ microbiomes — the bacteria in their gut — is much healthier than in older people.”

“Some probiotics already in the market are derived from soil, fermented foods, pickles, but most probiotics should be from human origin if they’re going back into the human.”

While in the research phase, it may lead to a booming business of collecting baby poop for the purpose of consuming it, after processing, to help our gut health and immune system. Think about this the next time you change a diaper or take a spoonful of yogurt.