Table of Contents
POOP
MEDICINE
Laura Loria
10 1 W. 23rd Str eet
Suite 0
New Y ork , NY 10011
USA
enslo w.com
Enslow
P
ublishing
THE
Power
OF POOP
Titles in the series
Visit enslow.com for more information!
Most of us take medicine to cure our stomach ailments, but poop is also a
cure! Doctors can put poop to good use in helping their patients. Explore
the healing properties of poop, like fecal transplants, and learn all about
the donation, collection, preparation, and transplantation of poop, as well
as the history of using human and animal waste to restore or enhance
health and beauty. Who knew poop was so valuable?
POOP MEDICINE
Loria
ENSLOW
THE OF P P
Power Power
Surprise, Poop Can
Keep You Healthy!
Laura Loria
101 W. 23rd Str eet
Suite
New Y ork, NY 1001
USA
enslow.c om
Enslow
P
ublishing
THE OF P P
Power Power
POOP
MEDICINE
Words to Know
antibiotic A medicine that cures an illness caused by bacteria.
bacteria An organism that can carry disease.
diarrhea Poop that has usually become liquid.
digestive tract The system of organs in your body that break
down food and get rid of waste.
donor A person who gives something to another person.
dung Animal poop.
feces Poop.
fertilizer A substance that helps plants grow.
intestine Tube-shaped organ that moves food through your
digestive system.
procedure A series of steps for completing a specic task.
Contents
Poop All Around ..........................................................
Poop Treatments of the Past .............................
The Poop Cure .............................................................
Saving Lives ..................................................................
Step by Step ................................................................
Poop Donors ................................................................
Doggie Doo ...................................................................
Poop Beauty .................................................................
The Future of Poop Medicine .........................
Learn More ....................................................................
Index ..................................................................................
Poop All
Around
Nature can be both beautiful and ugly. We have
colorful owers and messy weeds, but all things in
nature have a purpose, even the weeds. Even the
poop!
Poop is a part of nature that most people dont
like to talk about. It is dirty and often has a bad
smell. Your parents might tell you that its not
polite to talk about poop, but poop can be useful
in many ways.
Throughout
history, humans
have used poop for
lots of things. They
have built houses
with it and used it
to fuel their cooking
res. Poop was the
FUN FACT
Poop is 75 percent water.
Poop is part of everyday life, for all creatures!
Animal poop contains energy that makes plants grow
bigger.
original fertilizer , helping
farmers grow food. People
still use it today for fertilizer,
building blocks, and rocket
fuel.
Scientists can learn things
about animals and people
by examining their poop.
Everyones poop is unique,
almost like a ngerprint. It
shows what kind of things
you eat and which types of
bacteria are in your body.
Scientists and doctors can
use this information to treat
illnesses. In some cases, poop
itself is the cure! Doctors
have found that poop
can become a unique and
important medicine.
Poop Treatments
of the Past
Poop has been around as long as living things have
existed on Earth. While people have used many
plants as medicine, in some parts of the world,
they used poop to heal and cure.
Ancient Egyptians believed that illnesses
were caused by evil spirits. One of the cures
they frequently
used involved
dung .
It could be from
humans or from
animals, such as dogs
or donkeys.
The Egyptians
would mix the poop
with other plants
and herbs, packing
Poop has also been used to
treat cataracts, epilepsy,
and nosebleeds!
FUN FACT
In ancient times, people used what they found in nature for
medicine, including poop.
Paintings of Egyptian gods show them using natural
medicines.
or rubbing it onto the
part of the body that
hurt. These poop cures
might have had some
unexpected benets, such
as killing harmful kinds of
bacteria.
Five hundred years ago
in China, a doctor named
Li Shinzen prescribed
yellow soup to cure
diarrhea , fevers, and other
illnesses. The yellow soup
was made of dried or aged
poop, sometimes from a
baby. The doctors thought
the poop of a healthy
person would cure a sick
person, and they were
right!
The Poop Cure
Most people do not like the idea of eating
poop or rubbing it on their skin, even if it does
work. The smell and taste of it might be worse
than being sick! Today, doctors have found
a way to use
feces as medicine in clean, safe
ways.
A fecal microbiota transplant involves
moving one persons poop and helpful, healthy
gut bacteria into another persons body to
restore their digestive system to health.
FUN FACT
Healthy people poop anywhere from
three times a day to once every three
days.
Poop contains many kinds of bacteria. Some can make you
sick, but others can make you well.
Scientists began using FMT (fecal microbiota transplant) on
patients over seventy years ago.
Microbiota are the small organisms that live
in your poop. They can eat the harmful bacteria
that make a person sick and repopulate the good
bacteria.
American doctors began using fecal microbiota
transplant, or FMT, in the 1950s. There have been
more than two hundred medical case studies on
FMT. They show that between 92 and 95 percent
of fecal transplants are successful. However, there
are still very few doctors who do the
procedure .
With instructions from their doctor, some
patients can do FMT at home.
FUN FACT
Poop cures have often been used to treat a variety
of stomach problems. Today, fecal microbiota
transplants are used in treating one particular
