health

Holy crap. Eating "poo pills" could help you lose weight.

So there’s a new movement in the dieting world.

A new clinical trial, based in the United States, is investigating whether a prescription of “poo pills” could help overweight people slim down.

The treatment, which has already proven successful in mice, involves taking the intestinal microbes of a “skinny” or “lean” person via their faeces and feeding them to someone who is struggling with their weight.

As many as 20 obese patients will be tested over a period of six weeks, eating pills containing freeze-dried faecal matter.

Some will receive a placebo, and all will follow a strict diet and exercise regime.

Despite the technique being a little hard to swallow, experts say it’s not the first time such an idea has been floated.

Director of Centre for Superbug Solutions at the University of Queensland, Matt Cooper, told the ABC, that experts first noticed a potential link between faecal transplants and weight loss while treating patients for a type of gut infection.

“During faecal transplant therapy we have seen fat people who had received poo from a lean donor getting thinner and it was an interesting observation, but we need clinical trials to link cause to effect,” he said.

Prof Cooper said that while the the trial may be a success, it would only provide a short-term fix if not accompanied by ongoing lifestyle changes.

“While this may help people with weight loss,” he said, “it all comes down to exercise and the found you put in your mouth.

“The good bacteria from the pills will not last forever without a balance diet with a lot of fibre.

“If this trial works, we must remember that if you keep eating bad food, the bad bacteria will return.”

Eat sh*t and diet, basically.