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Number two. Poop. Doo-doo. Cow pie. Meadow muffin. Crap. We have different words for describing our feces, but one thing that’s likely the same for all of us is where we do it — in the toilet. Not many of us imagine our excrement – let alone someone else’s – in our kitchen or medicine cabinet alongside our vitamins and headache medicine. But the possibility of using feces for weight loss or to treat conditions like irritable bowel syndrome, metabolic syndrome, and C.Diff (Clostridium Difficile) has gotten some attention and even some scientific interest.

How would you like your poop prepared?

Overeasy? Medium rare? Freeze dried?

Freeze dried poop pills are technically known as fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT). The idea is that a fecal matter donor solution be ingested by a recipient in order to improve the recipient’s gut microbial composition, resulting in improved health. This might sound familiar – it resembles what we’ve heard about probiotics (probiotics are live bacteria and yeasts that are good for a healthy digestive system). This fecal phenomenon has also been compared to antibiotics, with claims about fighting infection.

Researchers have looked at the use of FMT for inflammatory bowel disease, irritable bowel syndrome, weight loss, metabolic syndrome, and C.Diff infection (an infection usually caused by antibiotics killing all of the bacteria, including the good bacteria). Of these, using FMT for weight loss has gotten the most online attention. Can poop pills cause weight loss? Let’s take a look….