Science Has Brought Us One Step Closer To 'Butt Breathing'

"Enteral ventilation" may one day help those with respiratory issuesEvery year, an event that prestigious journal Nature has dubbed “the highlight of the scientific calendar” takes place: the Ig Nobel awards. A lighthearted twist on the better-known Nobel prizes, the ceremony is dedicated to research that makes you “laugh, and then think”. And in 2024, the top physiology spot went to the team behind a “butt breathing” theory. The paper (Mammalian Enteral Ventilation Ameliorates Respiratory Failure), which won “for discovering that many mammals are capable of breathing through their anus,” was published in 2021.But recent further research published in Med has “evaluated the safety of this method in humans for the first time,” and found that the technique might give the lungs of those facing severe respiratory failure “a chance to rest and heal”. What is “butt breathing”? It’s actually called “enteral ventilation,” and the science behind it is really interesting. The 2021 study we talked about earlier took place after Covid created “a critical shortage” of respiratory tools like ventilators, the study authors said. So, “Inspired by organisms such as loaches that use intestinal air breathing,” they looked at whether humans could also get oxygen through our rectums.They put a lot of highly oxygenated liquid (conjugated perfluorocarbon) into the model pig and rat digestive systems through an enema-style technique. Once it reached the large intestine, the gas successfully entered their bloodstreams. The new study tested the technique on humans. But it didn’t use the same highly oxygenated liquid: it just sought to find out whether the method of administering it would be safe. 27 healthy male participants were given between 25 and 1,500 ml of a non-oxygenated version to hold in their rectums for 60 minutes. There were no serious side effects, though some reported feelings of bloating and discomfort, which seemed to increase as the volume rose.So... will “butt breathing” become a thing any time soon? “This is the first human data, and the results are limited solely to demonstrating the safety of the procedure and not its effectiveness,” Dr Takanori Takebe, one of the study’s co-authors, said. “But now that we have established tolerance, the next step will be to evaluate how effective the process is for delivering oxygen to the bloodstream.” It seems we’ll have to wait a while for the process to pass all the necessary cheeks checks.If it succeeds, however, it would realise the 2021 paper’s proposal of “repurposing the distal gut as an accessary breathing organ”. This could prove a vital source of support to those in respiratory failure for whom invasive breathing tools risk straining the lungs further. Related...'Fart Walks' May Be The Secret To Healthy Ageing, Doctor SaysI Made A Walking Change Ahead Of Clocks Going Back, And My Sleep Is Already Better'Finger Breathing' Could Help Transform Your Sleep. Here's How

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