LOL! I once met a guy on an online whose intro email was very promising until halfway into the letter, he admits his poop and fart fetish and goes into great detail describing his fetish fantasies and his hope that I might be willing to fulfill them.

In comparison to THAT experience, asking a stranger for a poop sample almost seems mundane.

What was funny about THAT experience was that I was both extremely disturbed and yet deeply grateful that he chose to disclose such information (and in such great detail) in his intro email rather than hiding it until after a relationship had developed - and yet I can't wrap my head around the willingness to share at first contact. Wouldn't you think a person would wait to spring something like that on a prospective partner?

If poop treatments become common (even without proof of effectiveness), I'm betting some idiots will opt for a DIY at-home version. Which opens the door on so many possible body fluid transmitted disease outbreaks.

Weird conversations with strangers may be a drop in the proverbial bucket.

I didn't read the original posted article, but I have researched this a bit.

In animal models, they can take the poop of a mouse that got bariatric surgery, give it to an obese mouse without the surgery and virtually reverse insuling resistance and obesity!

The studies with humans haven't been quite as promising but there are a couple of clinical trials (in Finland I think) going on right now.

For certain bowel conditions, fecal transplants can be life changing.
I think sometday we will better understand the microbiome and be able to help obesity but we just aren't there yet.

Also, for those freaked out by the ick factor - google RePOOPulate. It is sort of like a non-poop fecal transplant (currently for C. Differcile). It is pretty cool. Eventually something like that may help with obesity. But seriously, I would totally get a transplant of someone's poop (assuming it had been tested for diseases) if it could cure an issue and/or prevent taking a lot of meds (as some people with Crohns and Ulcerirtive colitis claims happens after a transplant from a healthy donor).

But for now, I wouldn't do a fecal transplant for weight loss - I think the research has a long way to go! (though I hear DIY fecal transplants are becoming a thing! eeek!).

I studied gut physiology as a master degree and one thing I got from there was that we know sooo little of the gut flora.. why does it changes? does the food affect it? does it affect the good? what about bacterie resistance?

We know a bit, but I have the feeling that it is only the tip of the iceberg... With all the bacteries resistance going on these days, I wouldn't mess with my gut flora (yet!).

Totally agree! I think understanding the microbiome is the next frontier of medicine for treating a lot of diseases ... but we are a long way off of undersanding it!