The Poo Scientist: "If Your Poo Looks Like This Go To A Doctor!", "Your Gut Health Causes Belly Fat, Anxiety!" & "Alcohol Is Destroying Your Gut Microbiome!"

**Steven Bartlett** (0:00)
What I have here is a variety of different shapes and sizes of poop.

**SPEAKER_2** (0:05)
Yeah.

**Steven Bartlett** (0:06)
What does this tell us about our health?

**Dr Will Bulsiewicz** (0:07)
Well, if your poop looks like this, to me that's grounds to talk to a doctor.

**SPEAKER_2** (0:12)
Dr Will Bulsiewicz, world renowned gut health doctor, who has a wealth of information on how we can improve our gut health through food and mice cell changes.

**Dr Will Bulsiewicz** (0:20)
We are currently living through an epidemic of gut health issues, and if we want to be healthy humans, we absolutely need a healthy gut microbiome in order to accomplish that.
So, let's break this down. First of all, microbes aren't visible. On your thumb, there are as many microbes as there are people in the UK.

**Steven Bartlett** (0:36)
Really?

**Dr Will Bulsiewicz** (0:36)
And gut microbes play a critical and essential role in controlling whether or not you suffer from depression, because 95% of the happy hormone is produced by the gut.
It controls your cognition, your memory, your energy levels. Your gut is the place where you are making decisions, and study after study after study shows us that when people eat more food, not only do they empower the gut microbes, but also they lose weight, they are less likely to die of heart disease, less likely to be diagnosed with multiple different types of cancer.

**Steven Bartlett** (1:02)
No way.

**Dr Will Bulsiewicz** (1:03)
Yes.

**Steven Bartlett** (1:03)
What about alcohol?

**Dr Will Bulsiewicz** (1:04)
The science is clear. When we drink to the point of having a hangover, is that dehydration? Absolutely not. The issue is you have caused significant damage to your microbiome.
But the gut is forgiving, and the choices that you make today, within 24 hours, will have an effect on your microbiome.
I want people to eat a diet where they can eat as much as they want without restriction and still achieve their weight goals. And this is completely possible by consuming a diet but…

**Steven Bartlett** (1:29)
I find it incredibly fascinating that when we look at the back end of Spotify and Apple and our audio channels, the majority of people that watch this podcast haven't yet hit the follow button or the subscribe button wherever you're listening to this. I would like to make a deal with you. If you could do me a huge favour and hit that subscribe button, I will work tirelessly from now until forever to make this show better and better and better and better. I can't tell you how much it helps when you hit that subscribe button. If the show gets bigger, which means we can expand the production, bring in all the guests you want to see and continue to doing this thing we love. If you could do me that small favour and hit the follow button, wherever you're listening to this, that would mean the world to me. That is the only favour I will ever ask you.
Thank you so much for your time. Back to this episode.
Dr Will, if someone's just clicked on this conversation and they're deciding whether to listen or not, what would be the pitch to those people? What's the benefit if they stick around?

**Dr Will Bulsiewicz** (2:25)
Welcome to what I sincerely believe will be a life-transforming conversation for you, because the issue is that we are currently living through an epidemic of gut health issues.
If we look across the board, this is everywhere. And it's not just digestion, this is so much more than that. We need this now more than ever, because ultimately, if we want to be healthy humans, which to me is one of the highest goals that we should hold for ourselves, if we want to be healthy humans, we absolutely need a healthy gut microbiome in order to accomplish that.

**Steven Bartlett** (2:57)
What's your sort of academic professional background?

**Dr Will Bulsiewicz** (3:00)
Oh, gosh, where do we begin?
So, I graduated from Vanderbilt University with a chemistry degree. That was my college. And I went to Georgetown, which is one of the top medical schools in the country.
I spent three years at Northwestern as an internal medicine resident. I won the highest award that they give while there. Then I was the chief medical resident. And I spent four years training as both a gastroenterologist in the hospital and also working on clinical research. So, I didn't expect when I finished all this that I would be continuing to publish papers at any point in my life in the future. But now in my work with Zoey as their US medical director, I've been heavily involved in clinical research again.