7 ms·

So far the discussion in this thread is lacking, some would say its shit. Understanding our gut is an overlooked part of medicine and biology. I think theres a

by anonu 4y ago

So far the discussion in this thread is lacking, some would say its shit. Understanding our gut is an overlooked part of medicine and biology. I think theres a certain taboo around the subject. But you can learn a lot about health, your mood, sleep cycles, etc from what comes out the other end. We need more research in this area. A decade or two ago, fecal transplants were considered joke medicine. Now its an important tool in treating certain gut infections: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fecal_microbiota_transplant https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fecal_microbiota_transplant

RupertEisenhart 4y ago
Strong agree. For all the evidence and talk about 'the microbiome is a newly discovered organ', people sure do struggle to look beyond the surface reading of the research-- yes, all the research in this area is research about shit, and often involves putting things inside arseholes. Hilarious as arseholes undoubtedly are, its a real shame seeing this research held back by this. One interesting corollary of the article-- I wonder if human corpses sink or swim in accordance with their former flatulence-- and how much the old tale about eating after dinner is determined by these selfsame gasses!
jack_pp 4y ago
I'm not familiar with the literature but I was rewatching Scrubs recently which is a 10-20 y/o show and it was mentioned in an episode that you could tell a lot about a person's health by looking at their stool, even made a joke about a "Doctor Toilet", a smart toilet that analyzes your stool
- dec0dedab0de 4y ago
  In the musical episode they have a song called everything comes down to poo. https://youtu.be/2BDd0XseGtU https://youtu.be/2BDd0XseGtU
  - vxNsr 4y ago
    First thing I thought of when reading this study.
yodsanklai 4y ago
> But you can learn a lot about health, your mood, sleep cycles, etc from what comes out the other end. Was talking about that with my GP. His view was that there's a lot of variance on that front, and that we shouldn't read too much into it. In particular, it's not because your shit isn't "perfect" that you're unhealthy, and there's not much to do about it anyway. Don't shoot the messenger! I know this is HN where people want (and think they can) optimise everything,
- laputan_machine 4y ago
  Definitely check your stool often and for things like mucus and blood. It could be a warning sign of something more sinister, and if you do find anything questionable contact your GP and get it checked out. On a lighter note, this paper is _really_ studying the gut flora which we do know has at least some impact on immunological function.
  - Something1234 4y ago
    What would mucus even look like in a turd?
    - rubyron 4y ago
      Same as it looks coming out of your nose or throat - clear to whitish/yellowish.
  - DonHopkins 4y ago
    Žižek on toilets: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rzXPyCY7jbs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rzXPyCY7jbs >The German toilets, the old type -- now they are disappearing but you still find them -- it's the opposite. The hole is in front. So that when you produce excrement, they are displayed in the back, they don't disappear in water. This is the German ritual, you know, use it every morning, sniff, inspect your shits for traces of illness. It's High Hermeneutic. I think the original meaning of Hermeneutic for Germans may be this. Žižek: Ideology and Toilets: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpSiMbkhkuE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpSiMbkhkuE >"It is easy for an academic at a round table to claim that we live in a post-ideological universe, but the moment he visits the lavatory after the heated discussion, he is again knee-deep in ideology." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hermeneutics https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hermeneutics >Hermeneutics (/ˌhɜːrməˈnjuːtɪks/)[1] is the theory and methodology of interpretation, especially the interpretation of biblical texts, wisdom literature, and philosophical texts. Hermeneutics is more than interpretive principles or methods we resort to when immediate comprehension fails. Rather, hermeneutics is the art of understanding and of making oneself understood.
ch4s3 4y ago
Historically John Harvey Kellogg was obsessed with digestion and intestinal flora[1]. The FOBT, used in diagnosing colon cancer has been around since at least the 1960s[2]. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Harvey_Kellogg#Battle_Creek_Sanitarium https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Harvey_Kellogg#Battle_Cre... [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fecal_occult_blood https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fecal_occult_blood
- nobodyandproud 4y ago
  That reminds me. There was an old movie from the 1990s about Kellogg: https://www.battlecreekenquirer.com/story/entertainment/2019/10/24/battle-creek-road-wellville-tc-boyle-kellogg-anthony-hopkins-alan-parker-matthew-broderick/3974083002/ https://www.battlecreekenquirer.com/story/entertainment/2019...
  - ch4s3 4y ago
    I totally forgot about that, it's actually really good.
- AtlasBarfed 4y ago
  And circumcision...
  - ch4s3 4y ago
    He was only sort of a proponent of that in extreme cases. People get hung up on the sex stuff, but he was way more into digestion.
- roperj 4y ago
  The original guaiac FOBT is a crude screening tool for colon cancer and never used for diagnosis in the strict meaning of the term (it’s somewhat sensitive and not at all specific). It’s also confused these days with the more sensitive and specific FIT test. FOBT has no relevance in modern medicine.
  - 4y ago
anonymous-4092 4y ago
I have coeliac (celiac) disease, ingestion of various cereal proteins (in wheat, barley, rye; thankfully not oats for me) cause an exciting array of gastrointestinal phenomena. A visual inspection is usually enough to tell me about low-level contamination. Recurring or high level ingestion becomes fairly evident to anyone within earshot, and effects usually last more than a week :/

by anonu 4y ago

RupertEisenhart 4y ago

Strong agree. For all the evidence and talk about 'the microbiome is a newly discovered organ', people sure do struggle to look beyond the surface reading of the research-- yes, all the research in this area is research about shit, and often involves putting things inside arseholes. Hilarious as arseholes undoubtedly are, its a real shame seeing this research held back by this. One interesting corollary of the article-- I wonder if human corpses sink or swim in accordance with their former flatulence-- and how much the old tale about eating after dinner is determined by these selfsame gasses!

jack_pp 4y ago

I'm not familiar with the literature but I was rewatching Scrubs recently which is a 10-20 y/o show and it was mentioned in an episode that you could tell a lot about a person's health by looking at their stool, even made a joke about a "Doctor Toilet", a smart toilet that analyzes your stool

dec0dedab0de 4y ago
In the musical episode they have a song called everything comes down to poo. https://youtu.be/2BDd0XseGtU https://youtu.be/2BDd0XseGtU
- vxNsr 4y ago
  First thing I thought of when reading this study.

yodsanklai 4y ago

> But you can learn a lot about health, your mood, sleep cycles, etc from what comes out the other end. Was talking about that with my GP. His view was that there's a lot of variance on that front, and that we shouldn't read too much into it. In particular, it's not because your shit isn't "perfect" that you're unhealthy, and there's not much to do about it anyway. Don't shoot the messenger! I know this is HN where people want (and think they can) optimise everything,

laputan_machine 4y ago
Definitely check your stool often and for things like mucus and blood. It could be a warning sign of something more sinister, and if you do find anything questionable contact your GP and get it checked out. On a lighter note, this paper is _really_ studying the gut flora which we do know has at least some impact on immunological function.
- Something1234 4y ago
  What would mucus even look like in a turd?
  - rubyron 4y ago
    Same as it looks coming out of your nose or throat - clear to whitish/yellowish.
- DonHopkins 4y ago
  Žižek on toilets: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rzXPyCY7jbs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rzXPyCY7jbs >The German toilets, the old type -- now they are disappearing but you still find them -- it's the opposite. The hole is in front. So that when you produce excrement, they are displayed in the back, they don't disappear in water. This is the German ritual, you know, use it every morning, sniff, inspect your shits for traces of illness. It's High Hermeneutic. I think the original meaning of Hermeneutic for Germans may be this. Žižek: Ideology and Toilets: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpSiMbkhkuE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpSiMbkhkuE >"It is easy for an academic at a round table to claim that we live in a post-ideological universe, but the moment he visits the lavatory after the heated discussion, he is again knee-deep in ideology." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hermeneutics https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hermeneutics >Hermeneutics (/ˌhɜːrməˈnjuːtɪks/)[1] is the theory and methodology of interpretation, especially the interpretation of biblical texts, wisdom literature, and philosophical texts. Hermeneutics is more than interpretive principles or methods we resort to when immediate comprehension fails. Rather, hermeneutics is the art of understanding and of making oneself understood.

ch4s3 4y ago

Historically John Harvey Kellogg was obsessed with digestion and intestinal flora[1]. The FOBT, used in diagnosing colon cancer has been around since at least the 1960s[2]. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Harvey_Kellogg#Battle_Creek_Sanitarium https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Harvey_Kellogg#Battle_Cre... [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fecal_occult_blood https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fecal_occult_blood

nobodyandproud 4y ago
That reminds me. There was an old movie from the 1990s about Kellogg: https://www.battlecreekenquirer.com/story/entertainment/2019/10/24/battle-creek-road-wellville-tc-boyle-kellogg-anthony-hopkins-alan-parker-matthew-broderick/3974083002/ https://www.battlecreekenquirer.com/story/entertainment/2019...
- ch4s3 4y ago
  I totally forgot about that, it's actually really good.
AtlasBarfed 4y ago
And circumcision...
- ch4s3 4y ago
  He was only sort of a proponent of that in extreme cases. People get hung up on the sex stuff, but he was way more into digestion.
roperj 4y ago
The original guaiac FOBT is a crude screening tool for colon cancer and never used for diagnosis in the strict meaning of the term (it’s somewhat sensitive and not at all specific). It’s also confused these days with the more sensitive and specific FIT test. FOBT has no relevance in modern medicine.
- 4y ago

anonymous-4092 4y ago

I have coeliac (celiac) disease, ingestion of various cereal proteins (in wheat, barley, rye; thankfully not oats for me) cause an exciting array of gastrointestinal phenomena. A visual inspection is usually enough to tell me about low-level contamination. Recurring or high level ingestion becomes fairly evident to anyone within earshot, and effects usually last more than a week :/