Lifestyle | Amy Gan
Right now, menstrual blood—the yields
from that time of the month—may be
causing you, and others around you, anguish and resentment. A pain with no gain.
What if I told you lives could be
saved with that blood? That this superfluous thing you throw far away could
actually be of critical use?
Recent studies show that menstrual
blood contains self-renewing stem cells, similar in properties to bone marrow
and embryonic stem cells. These cells multiply and differentiate into different
cell types (such as neural, cardiac and bone) which are used in transplants.
These studies only reveal a glimpse
of what is yet to come; there’s a great promise for the future of clinical
regenerative medicinal therapies. Unlike the stem cells used now, menstrual
stem cells would be collected in a non-intrusive, ethical, painless and
affordable manner.
There are already institutions which
are anticipating this new technology, such as Cryo Cell. This company is based
in New York and has already started collecting menstrual blood to be stored for
future use.
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