Pigs in a Pill: How Aspirin Mixes Changed the Game

Feeding pigs a special mix of aspirin and watching them gain more weight than normal. Sounds like a fairy tale, right? Well, hold onto your hats, kids! Believe it or not, a recent study tested a mix called enhanced liquid aspirin (ELA) on young pigs. This isn't your grandma's aspirin. It's a combo of special ingredients that don't cause any trouble for the tummy. This pilot study aimed to see how this ELA mix works on young pigs. Eight pigs were given either a regular saline solution or this ELA. The pigs with the ELA had higher weight gain. They grew 13. 7% compared to the others, who grew 8%. It's a huge difference! But wait, there’s more! The ELA mix also boosted some important gut health markers. The villi height, which are tiny finger-like projections in the gut, tended to increase by 24%. The ELA also significantly boosted the levels of proteins called Claudins (CLDN) 3 and 7.And get this - the ELA also changed the expression of certain genes in the pigs. This included genes related to stem cells and the immune system. The pigs were healthy throughout the study, showing no bad effects. Now, you might be wondering, why study pigs? Pigs are similar to humans in many ways, and their intestines work a lot like ours. So, what works for them might work for us too. It’s important to note that this was just a pilot study, so it's a small start. But it opens up big doors for future research. We now know that this ELA mix is safe and has some exciting benefits. Research like this is a way to think critically about what we feed animals so we can better take care of them, and maybe even ourselves. In the future, this mix might help treat diseases in animals. And maybe, just maybe, it'll help people too.