# Up to 20 lbs of poop! **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 12, 2021, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/up-to-20-lbs-of-poop/944148 "2021-06-12T21:56:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2021, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/up-to-20-lbs-of-poop/944148/1 "2021-06-12T21:56:34Z")
A YouTube ad popped up, and I idly watched part of it. A beardo was claiming most humans had from 5 to 20 pounds of shit onboard, and that that was the source all sorts of maladies. Like all this shit just sits there (somewhere). Up to 8 meals can be backed up at one time, he claims. I think he’s the one who’s full of shit. ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2021, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/up-to-20-lbs-of-poop/944148/2 "2021-06-12T22:17:48Z")
That’s absurd unless you have persistent constipation (which has happened, rarely). I have done prep for two coloscopies and there is nowhere near that much in the pipeline. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2021, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/up-to-20-lbs-of-poop/944148/3 "2021-06-12T22:26:47Z")
> [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](#): > > A beardo was claiming most humans had from 5 to 20 pounds of shit onboard… Up to 8 meals can be backed up at one time, he claims If you’re eating 2.5 pounds of food per meal, you might have bigger problems. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2021, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/up-to-20-lbs-of-poop/944148/4 "2021-06-12T23:55:19Z")
Claims of this sort are commonplace among the woo crowd and in legends about celebrities who supposedly died of/with vast amounts of poop clogging their intestines (John Wayne is said to have had 40 pounds of impacted fecal material, Elvis 60 pounds). While one’s G.I. tract can largely shut down at the end of life while the body struggles to keep more vital systems going, the amount of bodily waste present in such circumstances falls far short of the amounts alleged (sadly, I have firsthand autopsy experience to confirm it). Wooists make up this shit and accompanying claims about how we are being done in by imaginary poop toxins, in order to sell us diets and products intended to keep our bowels moving like an express train. Eating sensibly and consuming adequate fiber doesn’t have the allure of ColonBlast 1420. Or Super Colon Blow. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/Ku42Iszh9KM/maxresdefault.jpg "Colon Blow - SNL") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ku42Iszh9KM) ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2021, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/up-to-20-lbs-of-poop/944148/5 "2021-06-13T00:02:17Z")
The thing is instead of buying the diets and products sold by the purveyors of woo, you could just do the prep for a colonoscopy. I think some gastroenterologists have their patients use OTC laxatives, so it should be a cheaper option. Surely there wasn’t five to twenty pounds of fecal material when my doctor had that camera up my ass? ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2021, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/up-to-20-lbs-of-poop/944148/6 "2021-06-13T00:05:46Z")
The general notion that we contain nasty stuff that needs to be removed somehow to improve our health is psychologically attractive, and exploited by a shit load of woo merchants. Superfoods that get rid of “toxins”, doing a “purge”… and I just picked a random on-trend healthfood item, added the word enema to a search… and sure enough you can buy a “wheatgrass enema” kit. Ironically, so far as I’m aware none of these things have any evidence to support them… but the fecal transplant does. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2021, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/up-to-20-lbs-of-poop/944148/7 "2021-06-13T00:07:50Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > Claims of this sort are commonplace among the woo crowd and in legends about celebrities who supposedly died of/with vast amounts of poop clogging their intestines (John Wayne is said to have had 40 pounds of impacted fecal material, Elvis 60 pounds). The [Mütter Museum](http://memento.muttermuseum.org/detail/giant-megacolon) has the colon (actually a case of megacolon) of a man who died with 40 lbs of feces. The linked photo does contain nudity. [https://www.ladbible.com/community/weird-the-bizarre-story-of-the-man-who-only-pooped-once-a-month-20180220](https://www.ladbible.com/community/weird-the-bizarre-story-of-the-man-who-only-pooped-once-a-month-20180220) ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2021, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/up-to-20-lbs-of-poop/944148/8 "2021-06-13T00:40:36Z")
I live in Phily and have been to the MM a few times. I highly recommend it. ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2021, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/up-to-20-lbs-of-poop/944148/9 "2021-06-13T01:32:44Z")
> [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](#): > > 20 pounds of shit 20 pounds of shit is about two gallons. Grab two gallons of milk as a point of reference; get a sense of their volume, and try to imagine what girth you would take on with that much extra volume distributed inside your abdomen (above and beyond the volume already occupied by your internal organs). Most humans don’t have that kind of room to spare. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2021, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/up-to-20-lbs-of-poop/944148/10 "2021-06-13T01:51:31Z")
Verily, there is nothing new under the woo-sun. Thread from 2000: > [@John Wayne's Colon](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-waynes-colon/11156): > > I’m not sure if this is a UL or just local bullshit. I’m interested to see if: (1) anyone else here has heard this, and (2) if it is the UL bullshit I suspect it is. Every now and again, at the local bar, somebody will bring up this tidbit of cute celebrity autopsy trivia: “John Wayne had 26 pounds of feces [to polite it up a bit] in his intestines when he died.” First, I coulda swore he died of lung cancer (nuclear testing in Nevada, fallout, etc.). But–those that love bringing this subject … My particular contribution to that thread: > [@John Wayne's Colon](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-waynes-colon/11156/6): > > [humming] > > “John Wayne’s colon is mouldering in the grave, > His films go rolling on.” > > [/humming] And then the follow-up thread just a year later, in 2001: > [@John Wayne's bowels (yecch!)](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-waynes-bowels-yecch/49575): > > I was listening to a local Chicago FM staion on a recent Sunday morning and they were running an “infommercial” type show extolling the virtues of some doctor’s “intestinal cleansing” program. At one point the “interviewer” brought up the factoid that at John Wayne’s autopsy, an inordinate amount of…er…waste material (They were talking in terms of lbs.) was discovered in the Duke’s lower intestines as if this were common knowledge. First, has anyone else heard of this rumor and secondly, would … ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2021, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/up-to-20-lbs-of-poop/944148/11 "2021-06-13T02:53:19Z")
“Feeling sluggish? Weighed down?” “Drink a tall glass of Metamucil™ at least three times a day, and with just barely enough warning to reach the toilet\* you’'ll discharge the 80 pounds of poop jamming up your colon, leaving you toxin-free and doing the Happy Dance around your kitchen!” “Comes in Regular, Lemon-Lime and Third-Stage Booster Rocket.” \*unless you’re stuck in traffic on I-5. ---
**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2021, 6:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/up-to-20-lbs-of-poop/944148/12 "2021-06-13T06:04:42Z")
> [@Riemann](#): > > exploited by a shit load of woo merchants 20 lbs. worth? ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21825_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2021, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/up-to-20-lbs-of-poop/944148/13 "2021-06-13T13:20:24Z")
Don’t forget the claims that red meat remains undigested in your gut for \< _insert number \>_ weeks/months/years. Yet, if you eat corn for supper tonight, I expect you’ll see evidence of it in the bowl tomorrow. So I guess your gut has a meat waiting room? The question I’d like to ask these woo-merchants is “What toxins?” I’ve never seen it specified in any of their ads or “articles” and no one has ever spelled it out. And while I don’t claim any knowledge beyond 10th grade Biology class and maybe a Health class - don’t certain of our organs filter out bad stuff so we can excrete them? That is how the body works, right?? Well, assuming a healthy-ish body… There aren’t enough eye-rolls. ---
**Author:** ![DavidNRockies](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidnrockies/32/6279_2.png) [@DavidNRockies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidNRockies)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2021, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/up-to-20-lbs-of-poop/944148/14 "2021-06-13T13:28:37Z")
> [@FairyChatMom](#): > > The question I’d like to ask these woo-merchants is “What toxins?” I’ve never seen it specified in any of their ads or “articles” and no one has ever spelled it out. And while I don’t claim any knowledge beyond 10th grade Biology class and maybe a Health class - don’t certain of our organs filter out bad stuff so we can excrete them? That is how the body works, right?? Well, assuming a healthy-ish body… I don’t want to lead the charge too far down this particular rabbit hole, but … I don’t think it would be an unreasonable position to wonder aloud if the liver (as surrogate for the body’s detox systems) was ever evolved to deal with the ubiquity and profusion of chemicals in our modern world. [Which shouldn’t, in any way, be interpreted to mean that I support any snake oil cures designed to deal with this ‘problem.’] ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2021, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/up-to-20-lbs-of-poop/944148/15 "2021-06-13T13:45:02Z")
Sure, that’s a fair point. But then the merchants of woo should be able to identify the particular chemical that the liver isn’t able to handle, instead of the ubiquitous “toxin” which is their favourite all-purpose scare word. ---
**Author:** ![DavidNRockies](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidnrockies/32/6279_2.png) [@DavidNRockies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidNRockies)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2021, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/up-to-20-lbs-of-poop/944148/16 "2021-06-13T13:53:00Z")
Again: I am not a spokesperson for Woo, Inc., but … just as a timely and relevant f’rinstance … did you happen to catch this recent story ? [https://www.valisure.com/blog/valisure-news/valisure-detects-benzene-in-sunscreen/](https://www.valisure.com/blog/valisure-news/valisure-detects-benzene-in-sunscreen/) ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2021, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/up-to-20-lbs-of-poop/944148/17 "2021-06-13T13:55:09Z")
Yes, and I read it. Because it identifies the chemical in issue, the consumer product where it is found, and the precise health concern it raises. No mention of “You’ve got toxins in your body, so buy my woo product for perfect health!” ---
**Author:** ![DavidNRockies](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidnrockies/32/6279_2.png) [@DavidNRockies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidNRockies)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2021, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/up-to-20-lbs-of-poop/944148/18 "2021-06-13T13:58:53Z")
I’m reminded of the famous concert at Altamont Speedway: > **[Altamont Free Concert](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Altamont_Free_Concert)** > > Pages for logged out editors learn more > > The Altamont Speedway Free Festival was a counterculture rock concert in the United States, held on Saturday, December 6, 1969, at the Altamont Speedway outside of Livermore, California. Approximately 300,000 attended the concert, and some anticipated that it would be a "Woodstock West". The Woodstock festival was held in Bethel, New York, in mid-August, almost four months earlier. > The event is remembered for considerable violence, including the ... The organizers were probably right to assume that security would be an issue. They were very wrong in their proposed solution, however. Sometimes, people shine a light on something that truly _is_ a problem. Whether or not those same people are doing anything to solve it, other than enriching themselves, is another discussion entirely. ---
**Author:** ![Bootb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e19b73/32.png) [@Bootb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bootb)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2021, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/up-to-20-lbs-of-poop/944148/19 "2021-06-13T14:40:10Z")
> [@FairyChatMom](#): > > The question I’d like to ask these woo-merchants is “What toxins?” I’ve never seen it specified in any of their ads or “articles” and no one has ever spelled it out. And while I don’t claim any knowledge beyond 10th grade Biology class and maybe a Health class - don’t certain of our organs filter out bad stuff so we can excrete them? That is how the body works, right?? Well, assuming a healthy-ish body Clearly the toxins come from all the chemicals that unsuspecting people ingest. But don’t worry–just drink alkaline water, and detox your body, and you’ll be fine. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Saintly\_Loser](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saintly_loser/32/4045_2.png) [@Saintly\_Loser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saintly_Loser)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2021, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/up-to-20-lbs-of-poop/944148/20 "2021-06-13T15:28:42Z")
> [@Bootb](#): > > But don’t worry–just drink alkaline water, and detox your body, and you’ll be fine. Or drink “raw water.” Which is one of the stupidest things I’ve ever heard of, but apparently people do it. Probably the same people who drink raw milk. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/up-to-20-lbs-of-poop/944148.md?page=2)