Stem cells, or to be more specific adult stem cells, are the natural healing, repairing & regeneration system of the body, and although it seems that everyone these days has (at least) heard of stem cells, the truth is that at the turn of this century, no-one knew that stem cells existed.
The simple truth is that the human body depends on adult stem cells in the bone marrow to repair damage and stay healthy. The vital role adult stem cells play in both health & disease is one of the greatest health discoveries in recent years.
Stem cell research and stem cell therapies are truly cutting edge science!
But while medical science seems to always need to make things very complicated and expensive, harvesting & culturing stem cells so they can then inject them back into people (and animals), mother nature has been using stem cells in perfect ways, inside our bodies forever.
Nameless and unknown, adult stem cells have throughout history, healed our bodies, repaired our organs and been responsible for regenerating our tissues since the day we were born.
Facts About Stem Cells
- Adult stem cells are undifferentiated cells and they are un-specialized (which basically means that they aren’t specific to a particular tissue type in the body – they can be whatever they need to be). They are found throughout the body after development, and they multiply by cell division to replenish dying cells, and regenerate damaged tissues.
- Adult stem cells are the healing, repair & renewal system in your body. They are released into your blood from your bone marrow.
- Stem cells are called to the sites in the body that require regeneration or repair. This can be your organs, nervous system tissue, muscle, skin or virtually any other type of cell or tissue in your body.
- As different types of cells die or become damaged, and need to be replaced in the body, your stem cells become that that type of cell and replace the dead or damaged cells.
- Unlike adult stem cells, embryonic stem cells are found ONLY in embryos. When a baby is born, it too has adult stem cells.
- Embryonic stem cells are preferred for research because they are easier to culture in the laboratory. However their use has been the subject of hot debate due to the ethics surrounding their use.
- It was thought that embryonic stem cells were able to become cells that adult stem cells could not, however research in recent years is proving that supposition to be incorrect. Adult stem cells DO have the ability to become almost any type of bodily tissue.
- Although adult stem cells aren’t as user friendly in the petri dishes of the laboratory as embryonic stem cells, they are naturally effective when doing their thing in your body just as nature designed them to do.