As the field of stem cell research continues to grow at a pace that makes it difficult to keep up with, it is becoming clearer and clearer that bone marrow stem cells constitute the natural healing system of the body. Whenever an organ or a tissue has a problem, this tissue secretes cytokines –molecules that attract cells- that specifically attract stem cells and make them migrate into the ailing tissue. When they reach the tissue, they slowly transform into cells of that tissue. It is this phenomenon that is behind the regenerative process taking place in the body everyday of our lives, and it actually constitute a novel way of looking at health and disease formation.

In this process, the number of stem cells circulating in the bloodstream has been shown to be one of the most important parameter; more stem cells in circulation means that more stem cells are available to migrate in the various tissues and organs of the body. But if this is to be of any significance, scientists asked, there should then be a relationship between a deficiency of stem cells and the development of various diseases. In other words, people with a lower number of circulating stem cells should have a lesser ability to regenerate and repair tissues, and consequently should be at higher risk of developing diseases resulting from the loss of cells. And this is exactly what was found. In studies published over the past year or so, a lower number of circulating stem cells has been so far linked to the development of cardiac diseases, arthritis, chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases (COPD), pulmonary arterial diseases, diabetes, kidney failure, muscular dystrophy, and even migraine and erectile dysfunction. In other words, people with less stem cells are more likely to develop these diseases; and this correlation is likely to be found with many other diseases as such relationships continue to be studied.

From all this data, what is emerging is a new model of health and wellness based on stem cells. Traditionally we see disease formation as the lost of specific types of cells, and treatments consist in compensating for such loss. For example, diabetes is the loss of pancreatic cells producing insulin and the treatment consists in compensating by injecting insulin. Parkinson is the loss of cells producing dopamine in the brain, and the treatment consists in taking compound such as L-dopa that will increase brain dopamine levels. Kidney failure is the loss of kidney function and the treatment is regular hemodialysis. At times the compensation is palliative such as a wheel chair for someone with muscular disease or spinal cord lesion. But for virtually every disease the problem is the loss of function in an organ or tissue, due to specific cellular loss, and the treatment is not regeneration or tissue repair but simple support or compensation.

What the emerging stem cell science is telling us is that there is another side to this whole equation, we don’t only lose cells to irremediably reach a state of malfunction down the road; we can also repair and regenerate. Therefore, disease formation is not the results of cellular loss but rather the result of an imbalance between cellular loss and cellular regeneration. We lose cells everyday of our lives, but we also regenerate cells and repair tissues everyday of our lives; we just need to renew cells as fast as we lose cells.

It is well known that each tissue and organ of the body goes through a renewal or turnover cycle. For example we have a new lining of the intestine every 5 days or so, a new liver every 3-4 years, new lung every 4 years or so, a new heart every 15-20 years, and possibly even a new brain! In fact, it is scientifically quite difficult to accurately say how much time it takes for any organ to renew completely, but this information is not important in itself, what is important is to understand that each organ and tissue of the body loses cells as part of the normal process of life, but also regenerates in order to maintain tissue function throughout the life of an individual –and it is the role of bone marrow stem cells to carry this regenerative process.

Conclusion: anything that will increase the number of circulating stem cells will support the ability of the body to naturally regenerate and repair itself, tilting the balance toward overall repair and potentially delaying the onset of any problem caused by the loss of specific types of cells. This approach suddenly creates a whole new concept in health and wellness, aside from cure and prevention: health maintenance. This concept offers for the first time a platform to go from a disease-based model of health to a health-based model. It gives us the means to think of medical care not as something we do when health begins failing, but rather as something we do in order to maintain health when we have it. Simply support natural daily stem cell-based tissue repair. And when a disease has already begun its process, then we can certainly do all we can to compensate and mitigate for the condition, but we can also tap into the natural regenerative properties of the body to tip the balance toward tissue repair.