I heard that poop can also help you lose weight, so would you like to try it?

gossip

Ladies and gentlemen, if one day, you are so fat that there is no hope of losing weight, and I tell you: if you want to lose weight, just eat shit, will you eat it?

Maybe you will say, I will never eat even if I am fat, I am proud of being fat! But maybe some cute fat people have already made an appointment with thin friends secretly...

So, can eating shit really help you lose weight?

analyze

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01

Eating shit can really help you lose weight!

But "eating shit" doesn't mean eating shit.

It's "fecal microbiota transplantation".

What you eat is also your intestinal flora

Regarding all this “eating shit to lose weight”, today we’ll start with the intestines!

If the human body is likened to a factory, the intestines are the "gas station" and "sewer" of the factory, which are mainly responsible for the dirty work in the body. Various foods are broken down and absorbed here, and the remaining residues are also discharged from the body from here.

From the moment we are born, microorganisms begin to pour into this factory and set up camp here. As we grow up, the number of microorganisms increases day by day.

Generally, there are hundreds of microorganisms residing in the intestines, which scientists call "gut flora."

These bacteria can be divided into two categories, one is harmful bacteria and the other is beneficial bacteria, which is what we usually call probiotics.

In a study published in the top international journal Science in 2022, a team of scientists from France demonstrated the fact that there is a direct dialogue between intestinal bacteria and the brain, and neurons can directly sense bacteria and adjust appetite and body temperature control accordingly.

Scientists from the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute in the UK also conducted experiments on mice and found that mice that were given fat bacteria grew into fat mice, while mice that were given thin bacteria remained thin mice.

This is also the first time that the saying “eating shit can help you lose weight” has been broken.

"Eating shit" actually refers to "fecal microbiota transplant," which is a scientific technology that extracts feces from healthy people, dilutes and filters it, and then transplants it into the patient's body through tube infusion or oral capsules to achieve therapeutic purposes.

At present, in clinical practice, "fecal microbiota transplantation" is mainly used to treat Clostridium difficile infection. In addition, scientists have found that it is effective for chronic diseases such as diabetes, obesity, constipation, Crohn's disease, irritable bowel syndrome, chronic fatigue syndrome, depression, autism, etc., and such treatments do exist.

Although fecal microbiota transplantation is seen as a promising treatment option, it is still in the experimental stage in many disease areas.

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02

Can you lose weight by lying down and “eating shit”?

In fact, it is not possible to lose weight by lying down!

Scientists actually conducted another mouse experiment. They mixed mice with fat bacteria and mice with thin bacteria. You know, intestinal bacteria will be excreted in feces, and mice will eat each other's feces, which is equivalent to sharing bacteria with each other.

The results showed that in this case, if the mice were fed a healthy high-fiber, low-fat diet, the mice carrying obese bacteria would not gain weight; but if they were fed an unhealthy low-fiber, high-fat diet, the mice carrying obese bacteria would gain weight as usual.

In other words, for mice that carry obese bacteria, this mixed breeding method of eating feces can really prevent obesity, but the premise is a healthy diet.

So, putting aside the question of whether or not it is possible to transplant “thin people’s bacteria”, those of you who hope to “lie down” still need to eat more vegetables, less fat and sugar, and exercise actively if you want to lose weight.

03

What about probiotic products in daily life?

Is it dirty too?

actually,

China is the first country to use fecal microbiota transplantation to treat diseases.

It is easy for ordinary people to associate probiotic strains with feces when seeing the description on the packaging, but in fact the strains added to yogurt do not contain any fecal components .

In fact, many people don’t know that China was the first country to use fecal microbiota transplantation to treat diseases, and it has been used to treat food poisoning since the Yuan Dynasty.

However, due to the limited medical level at that time, it was necessary to take fecal matter for treatment. With the development of medicine today, the strains cultivated are very pure and there is no need to worry about whether they contain fecal components.

Although this bacteria originates from the intestines, after being extracted from the intestines and separated, cultured and amplified by instruments, various impurities, pathogens or feces have long been removed, so netizens do not need to worry about the hygiene of the strain.

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To select probiotic products

Please pay attention to these 5 points!

In 2020, the "Scientific Consensus on Probiotics (2020 Edition)" released by the Probiotics Branch of the Chinese Society of Food Science and Technology pointed out that the three core characteristics of probiotics are "sufficient quantity, live bacteria, and beneficial health functions." In daily life, please pay attention to these five points when purchasing probiotic products.

1. Check whether it contains lactic acid bacteria: Check the product ingredient list to see if it contains lactic acid bacteria.

2. Check whether it is a live bacteria type: "Scientific Consensus on Probiotics (2020 Edition)" reminds that for lactic acid bacteria beverages, you should pay attention to distinguish the product type when purchasing, such as live bacteria (non-sterilized) type or non-live bacteria (sterilized) type.

3. Check the number of probiotics: Check the number of live bacteria marked on the package. The probiotics must be at least 1 million per gram to be effective.

4. Check the storage conditions: Live bacteria lactic acid bacteria drinks need to be stored in a refrigerator at a temperature of 2 to 10°C.

5. Check the shelf life: "Scientific Consensus on Probiotics (2020 Edition)" emphasizes that live lactic acid bacteria beverages will cause the number of live lactic acid bacteria to decrease and affect the taste if they are out of the cold chain. They should be consumed as soon as possible after purchase or refrigerated in time.

in conclusion

“Eating shit to lose weight” does not mean eating shit, but “fecal microbiota transplantation”.

"Fecal microbiota transplantation" can prevent obesity, but it does not mean you can lose weight by just eating shit." The prerequisite is still to have a healthy diet!

Author: Zhang Xiufeng, deputy chief physician of the Anorectal Department of Hangzhou Third People's Hospital

Review｜Shen Zhong, Chief Physician, Hangzhou Third People's Hospital

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