The Man Who Weighed Poo (And Changed Your Breakfast)

Everyone online is fibremaxxing. But the whole idea started with a one-eyed Irish surgeon in 1950s Uganda who spent years weighing people's poo. Denis Burkitt found a childhood cancer that followed the rain across Africa, sent samples to London, and helped uncover the Epstein-Barr virus, the first virus ever linked to a human cancer. Then he noticed what wasn't on his wards. Bowel cancer, appendicitis and diverticular disease were everywhere in England and almost nowhere in rural Uganda. So, with Alec Walker and Neil Painter, he started comparing stools: how much they weighed and how fast food got through. His answer was fibre, and bran went into everything. But did anyone check? In the 1990s a big trial gave bran to people who'd had bowel polyps removed, and it made no difference. Then in 2019 a WHO-commissioned review in The Lancet pulled together 185 long-term studies and 58 clinical trials. Burkitt was wrong about some details and right about the big one. We also go inside your gut to meet the bacteria that eat your fibre, explain why fibremaxxing makes you blow up like a pool toy, and show how much you actually need. This video is general information, not medical advice. If your gut has changed and isn't settling, or you see blood, see your GP. In Australia you can ask for a free bowel screening kit from 45, and it's posted to you every two years from 50. Every fact is sourced. Sources available on request.