There's been lots of interesting studies in animals suggesting that if you take the microbiome from an obese mouse and put it into a healthy sized mouse, that healthy mouse will start to become obese. There was also a really interesting study by researchers at the University of East Anglia quite recently where they took fecal transplants from Oldmice and put them into Youngmice. Those Youngmice then started to develop kind of leaky guts and markers of inflammation in their brains and eyes. So there's some interest in speculation about in the future, possibly. People might bank their stool when they're young and use it to replenish their guts with healthier microbes when they are older.
Madeleine Finlay hears from science correspondent Linda Geddes about her experience becoming a faecal transplant donor, how getting a dose of someone else’s gut bacteria could treat illnesses like arthritis, diabetes and cancer, and asks whether a pill made from poo is an idea we are ready to swallow. Help support our independent journalism at
theguardian.com/sciencepod