🚨 Gut healing breakthrough: MIT researchers discover an amino acid that rejuvenate the small intestine

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MIT researchers have identified the amino acid cysteine as a powerful dietary trigger for gut regeneration, offering a potential new tool to heal damage caused by radiation or chemotherapy.

 In a study published in Nature, the team showed that diets rich in cysteine activated a specific immune response that boosted the regeneration of intestinal stem cells in mice. This process was driven by CD8 T cells, which absorbed a metabolite of cysteine and began producing IL-22, a cytokine known to stimulate tissue repair in the small intestine.

The findings open up promising new dietary strategies for enhancing recovery after medical treatments that damage the gut lining, such as radiation therapy and the chemotherapy drug 5-fluorouracil. Unlike synthetic drugs, cysteine is found naturally in protein-rich foods like meat, dairy, legumes, and nuts. The study also paves the way for future research into whether other amino acids might similarly influence stem cell regeneration, potentially transforming how we approach tissue repair and gut health through nutrition.

Source: Chi, F., et al. (2025). Dietary cysteine enhances intestinal stemness via CD8+ T cell-derived IL-22. Nature.