There is a procedure called fecal transplant where peoples poop is used as an enema to help heal certain bowel diseases. This is something that I learned from my Econ class, oddly enough. In our reading Think Like a Freak the book goes over how people were so disgusted by the idea of fecal transplant that they never even thought to try and use it. Some doctors believed in it and other people hated the idea because it was against traditional medicine. However, as we learned in class just because it is traditional medicine does not mean it is effective medicine. So, could a fecal transplant actual help people?
The massive scientific magazine article I got most of my information from went into detail about everything from tests done to the mechanisms to the original heads of the science. The founder of this practice is named Max Nieuwdorp, who rediscovered it from a paper made in 1950’s, and he and a number of doctors around the world have studied the idea of fecal transplants. However, there has never been an honest to got double blind experiment to see if fecal transplants do help. The few tests done on thousands of people see that the treatment does help increase the number of people who get better from not only C. difficil, a toxic bacteria that develops in the colon, but constipation, irritable bowel syndrome, inflammation of the colon and more. They say the treatment works and a number of doctors agree with them. However, as we learned in class doctors are not always right.
All the tests they have done are based of sound scientific principles but none of of the highest quality possible. Additionally, none of the tests described are really explained in full detail such as if they was a control group and things like that. While interesting and a good correlational idea and basic testing but it is not fully tested. However, another article went over how the treatment is not accepted by the FDA and a number of people are doing the transplant themselves which like giving yourself a blood transfusion. It is not safe if the donor has a number of diseases or if they are not related for a number of reasons, or so doctors think. While a more opinionated article it had some far points but since there is not official science by actual scientists on this issue it makes sense the FDA is not approving it. There may be ulterior motives but there has to be science by scientists.
The last article I looked through went over how the fecal transplant affects the gut by actually looking at the gut. A number of surgeons went into a peoples guts after the transplants, since they needed additional surgery any way, to see the effect. The photos are disgusting but the surgeons did say there was a real change in peoples guts after the transplant compared to other people they did surgery one who had not had the transplant. They say it is due to the infusion of healthy bacteria into a persons system and it seems like a sound mechanism. However, the study would have been amazing if they had done the transplant for half the people and made sure that the surgeons did not know who had the transplant. They would examine peoples guts and see what happened without knowing what would happen.
Sources
http://www.faim.org/guthealth/the-power-of-probiotics-and-fecal-transplant.html