It shouldn’t surprise you that nothing fascinates me more than poop. Specifically, I am completely awestruck by the bacteria in our poop. If you have ever sat down to dinner with me, you know that. I may have shocked my in-laws by my “potty talk” when they first met me. But when I explained how essential bacteria in their poop could save a life, they listened. (Or at least pretended to.)

In the January issue of Naturopathic Doctor News & Review, Mark Davis, ND describes “fecal transplantation”, or simply put, “poop transplant”. I had first heard of this on the hit television drama, Grey’s Anatomy. The woman is sick, the husband is shocked to hear that they want to put his poop into his wife, the med students are challenged by the taboo procedure… and of course in the end she is healed!

Just weeks after seeing this episode, a friend told me a story of a Medford, Oregon medical doctor who had done a fecal transplantation and consequently received heavy criticism from colleagues and the hospital in which the procedure took place. Last I heard he had been waiting approval in order to perform more of this same procedure.

When the body is lacking certain bacteria, devastating digestive disturbances can occur. As far back as the 17th Century, infusions of healthy bacteria were used in veterinary care. Humans were treated in this manner for colitis as early as 1958. Currently, fecal transplantation is being used to successfully treat patients with Ulcerative Colitis, Crohn’s disease, irritable bowel syndrome, metabolic syndrome, and chronic constipation.

Mark Davis, in his article, cites that Dr. Paul Schleinitz of the Rogue Valley Medical Center in Medford, Oregon (the same doc my friend had originally told me about) is now successfully treating C difficile infection with fecal transplantation from donor stool of household members. He is hopeful that this treatment will grow in popularity for a variety of applications.

While most of us will not need a fecal transplantation, it brings to mind the importance of these bacteria that live in and on us all of the time. We are dependent on the life forms that share our bodies, and learning how best to support this amazing ecosystem is a foundational element of health. In short, be not afraid of poop, it could save your life!

Whether you suffer from digestive disturbances or not, my advice is to start the easy way: take your probiotic supplement everyday, supporting the life forms that create a healthy body.

Wishing you healthy poop for life,

Helen Mahoney

Colon Hydrotherapist

Have you ever wondered how organic the organic food at Safeway and Whole Foods really is? It doesn’t seem to be the same as what we buy at the local farmer's market or the co-op.

I just visited Mercola’s web site and heard about modified atmosphere packaging which may be made of lipids such as wax,; resins such as shellac; polysaccharides such as cellulose; proteins such as soy; plasticizers such as polyethelene glycerol; as well as various antimicrobials, antioxidants and texturizers.

So are all vegetables really suitable for a vegetarian diet? Some of these foods may even contain a waxy coating made from cow, pig or chicken collagen! Yikes!! Another reason to truly cherish our local farmers.

Will taking multivitamins shorten your life????

You may have read the recent article about shortened life span in women taking multiple vitamins and are perhaps wondering what to do. It is always a good idea to apply the scientific principle to find out if supplements we are taking to improve our health really work. Good scientific studies are prospective, meaning the question is asked and then the data is collected with a treatment group and a control group.

The recent multivitamin study was retrospective, meaning information collected after the fact, about the lifestyle and the supplements women in the study had taken over the past several years. Some of the women in the study had just started taking a multi while others had been taking them for years. The control group had not taken any multi vitamins.

Overall they found lower blood pressure, less diabetes and a better BMI in the supplement taking group. However, they also found a correlation between taking a multi and dying earlier. The questions they didn’t ask are “have you started taking vitamins because you have an illness?” (Perhaps a serious illness which could cause early death), “are you taking a vitamin with high copper or iron when you don’t need it?” (These minerals can be damaging in high amounts when you don’t need them) “are you taking vitamins potentially contaminated with heavy metals and other toxic substances?” (%80 of raw materials for vitamins and minerals come from China).

What happens when studies are retrospective and poorly designed is the results they produce often support what the researchers want to find. And that is just not good science.