Poop Transplants May Sound Unpleasant, But They Are Changing Medicine As We Know It

Poop transplants, or fecal transplants as they are medically known, may sound unpleasant, but many health professionals believe they may be the future of healthcare as we know it. In a recent video, the team at Brit Lab broke down exactly what these are and why they are used to help us all better under this new and increasingly popular treatment.

According to Brit Lab, a fecal transplant is pretty much exactly what it sounds like. It involves taking poop from a healthy person and transplanting it into the digestive tract of a sick person. This is usually done through an enema, but can also be done using a pill that is swallowed. So far, these transplants have had phenomenal results in treating and curing a range of digestive issues. For example, according to Brit Lab, one such trial on using the transplants for recurring digestive infections was so successful that it had to be stopped early because volunteers were complaining if they didn't randomly get selected to have the treatment.

The transplants are not based so much on our feces but rather the microbes that live inside of them. For example, narrator Greg Foot explained that our poop is as much as 40 percent microbes. When these microbes are transplanted into a sick person, they can recolonize and promote a healthier digestive tract.



Poop transplants are highly effective at treating a number of digestive health issues.

Although still an emerging science, some reckon that poop transplants may even be useful in treating non-digestive related conditions such as obesity and help people lose weight. At the moment, some corporations have even set up “fecal banks” where super healthy individuals can be paid for their poop which is stored for later transplantation into less healthy individuals.

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