# Will eating your own feces make you sick? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 22, 2005, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-eating-your-own-feces-make-you-sick/286138 "2005-01-22T20:46:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2005, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-eating-your-own-feces-make-you-sick/286138/21 "2005-01-23T02:15:14Z")
> [@spingears](#): > > The wolves in artic lands will fight over your ‘leavings’ and extract the last bit of nourishment from them. It isn’t the nourishment; they do it to relieve the monotony. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2005, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-eating-your-own-feces-make-you-sick/286138/22 "2005-01-23T02:31:43Z")
> [@Reeder](#): > > Pigs don’t…they roll in mud. They do it to keep cool. They are actually meticulously clean animals. > > Dogs do, to hide their scent. Pigs will quite happily eat shit, as will dogs. Human feces actually contain a fair bit of unused nutrients (as do those of other omnivores and carnivores). Dogs will eat their own feces. I am not certain about pigs, but I think it’s likely. As **Mangetout** indicates, rabbits actually have to eat their own feces and pass them through the digestive tract twice to extract certain nutrients. Certainly eating other people’s feces can cause problems, by infecting you with diseases that they may have, or by introducing a foreign strain of E. coli that can disrupt your own intestinal flora. However, I am not convinced that eating one’s own feces would necessarily cause any health problems, aside from re-infecting yourself with any parasites or diseases you already had. But perhaps **Qadgop** may have some more definitive information. ---
**Author:** ![jester21](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ed655f/32.png) [@jester21](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jester21)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2005, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-eating-your-own-feces-make-you-sick/286138/23 "2005-01-23T03:10:45Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > Pigs will quite happily eat shit, as will dogs. Human feces actually contain a fair bit of unused nutrients (as do those of other omnivores and carnivores). Dogs will eat their own feces. I am not certain about pigs, but I think it’s likely. As **Mangetout** indicates, rabbits actually have to eat their own feces and pass them through the digestive tract twice to extract certain nutrients. Damn, beat to the punch. I’ve previously read elsewhere that the human body is only about 60% efficient at absorbing nutrients from normal foods… So therefore, if you ate yer poop, you’d get and additional 60%, giving you a total of 120% nutrient absorbtion… haha, jest kidding… let’s see… .6 \* .4 = .24 … .6 + .24 = .84 … so, eating your poop would give you approx. 84% of available nutrientes vs. 60% … i say go for it! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![WORintoRDS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/0ea827/32.png) [@WORintoRDS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WORintoRDS)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2005, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-eating-your-own-feces-make-you-sick/286138/24 "2005-01-23T04:18:10Z")
\*\*Urine CAN be infectious …Leptospira organisms are the most dangerous. Also bacteria that give you nasty cytitis. So DONT experiment. Nature wouldn’t have designed for fecal/urinary elimination had they been useful. Now would one feed back the car’s exhaust gases back into the engine to utilise any remaining useful gases ?? Scarp the crap !!!\*\* ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2005, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-eating-your-own-feces-make-you-sick/286138/25 "2005-01-23T04:41:24Z")
> [@WORintoRDS](#): > > \*\*Urine CAN be infectious …Leptospira organisms are the most dangerous. Also bacteria that give you nasty cytitis. So DONT experiment. No one has disputed that consuming someone _else’s_ excretory products could be problematic. The question at hand is whether ingesting _your_ own will cause problems, beyond re-infection with what you already have. > [@](#): > > Nature wouldn’t have designed for fecal/urinary elimination had they been useful. Now would one feed back the car’s exhaust gases back into the engine to utilise any remaining useful gases ?? How do you explain the fact that rabbits _must_ eat their own feces, then? > [@](#): > > Scarp the crap !!!\*\* Scarp it up? ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2005, 6:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-eating-your-own-feces-make-you-sick/286138/26 "2005-01-23T06:36:19Z")
Eating ones own feces does carry some risks. You could actually give yourself a disease that you don’t already have. While the individual human colon may be well-adapted to all the strains of bacteria it carries (and feces is about 50% bacteria by weight, on average), the oral cavity, mouth, and stomach are not necessarily happy to have those same bacteria transiting thru them in such high numbers. In the oral cavity the basic dental bacteria will usually keep e. coli and other colon pathogens from gaining a foothold, but the esophagus generally doesn’t harbor a heavy native population of bacteria. So if bits of stool get trapped in diverticulae or other folds in the esophagus, a nasty esophagitis may result. As for the stomach, just the pure volume of bacteria, with their various bacterial excretions, may disrupt the normal acid production and gastric emptying. So the stomach stops digesting, and stops emptying. While eating shit is nasty, I would suspect that vomiting it is worse. This could force feces up past the soft palate into the nasopharynx, where it would be lodged until thoroughly irrigated. E. Coli is not a typical sinus infection pathogen, but I suspect it would set up a dandy amount of pus if lodged in the maxillary or ethmoid or frontal sinus. Just say no to autocoprophagy. Or coprophagy in general. While a beneficial practice for hindgut digestors (like rabbits) and some midgut digestors, it serves no positive purpose for us foregut digestors. ---
**Author:** ![coffeecat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/coffeecat/32/3405_2.png) [@coffeecat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/coffeecat)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2005, 10:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-eating-your-own-feces-make-you-sick/286138/27 "2005-01-23T10:08:09Z")
Rabbits and guinea pigs eat their cecal pellets, not their feces. Both come out of the butt, but even they know enough to leave their poop alone. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![snailboy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/97f17d/32.png) [@snailboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snailboy)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2005, 10:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-eating-your-own-feces-make-you-sick/286138/28 "2005-01-23T10:16:58Z")
> [@WORintoRDS](#): > > \*\*Now would one feed back the car’s exhaust gases back into the engine to utilise any remaining useful gases ?? > \*\* It’s been done for over 30 years. It’s called Exhaust Gas Recirculation, or EGR. Now back to fecal ingestion. ---
**Author:** ![Ephemera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2005, 10:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-eating-your-own-feces-make-you-sick/286138/29 "2005-01-23T10:30:30Z")
> [@Qadgop the Mercotan](#): > > …and feces is about 50% bacteria by weight, on average… Not that the rest of your post didn’t make me nauseous, but this factoid always makes me shudder every time I read it. ---
**Author:** ![WORintoRDS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/0ea827/32.png) [@WORintoRDS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WORintoRDS)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2005, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-eating-your-own-feces-make-you-sick/286138/30 "2005-01-23T12:53:53Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > No one has disputed that consuming someone _else’s_ excretory products could be problematic. The question at hand is whether ingesting _your_ own will cause problems, beyond re-infection with what you already have. > > How do you explain the fact that rabbits _must_ eat their own feces, then? > > Scarp it up? The cells of the mouth and rectum/anus are NOT the same. Its not just reinfection …its stupidity,depravity and un-human behaviour ! The stomach PRODUCES acid; its cells are adapted not to be harmed by it. Now try and put it in your mouth and see what the ph will do to mouth cells !! Similarly we shouldnt think with our elbows !!! Comprendo ? btw do i see an epidemic where sane people are somehow justifying behaving like rabbits and pigs ? ---
**Author:** ![WORintoRDS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/0ea827/32.png) [@WORintoRDS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WORintoRDS)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2005, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-eating-your-own-feces-make-you-sick/286138/31 "2005-01-23T13:00:56Z")
> [@snailboy](#): > > It’s been done for over 30 years. It’s called Exhaust Gas Recirculation, or EGR. Now back to fecal ingestion. Surely not directed into the combustion chamber . Effect on engine performance? ---
**Author:** ![jester21](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ed655f/32.png) [@jester21](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jester21)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2005, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-eating-your-own-feces-make-you-sick/286138/32 "2005-01-23T13:09:36Z")
> [@WORintoRDS](#): > > The cells of the mouth and rectum/anus are NOT the same. Its not just reinfection > …its stupidity,depravity and un-human behaviour ! > > The stomach PRODUCES acid; its cells are adapted not to be harmed by it. Now try and put it in your mouth and see what the ph will do to mouth cells !! Similarly we shouldnt think with our elbows !!! > Comprendo ? > > btw do i see an epidemic where sane people are somehow justifying behaving like rabbits and pigs ? the question was not if it was an intelligent thing to do or amuzing or somehow superior to other animals,… but rather, if eating your own poop would actually make you sick, regardless of the reasons for doing so. No where have i seen anyone trying to justify actually doing so. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Controvert](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dec6dc/32.png) [@The\_Controvert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Controvert)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2005, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-eating-your-own-feces-make-you-sick/286138/33 "2005-01-23T13:14:51Z")
… and next time on _Fear Factor_ :eek: 😃 ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2005, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-eating-your-own-feces-make-you-sick/286138/34 "2005-01-23T14:01:23Z")
> [@WORintoRDS](#): > > Surely not directed into the combustion chamber . Effect on engine performance? The point to Exhaust Gas Recirculation is improving your car’s “unburned hydrocarbon” numbers. Not all the gasoline gets burned in the engine, and one way to cut down on hydrocarbon pollution is to run some of the exhaust through the engine again. Another way is to pump fresh air into the exhaust manifold, where it will burn some more of the wasted fuel. The exhaust manifold is already hot enough that you don’t need another set of spark plugs there. These days, we mostly depend on catalytic convertors and improved effeciency in the engine (computer-controlled injection and gee-whiz valve gear, for example.) ---
**Author:** ![Dag\_Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@Dag\_Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dag_Otto)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2005, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-eating-your-own-feces-make-you-sick/286138/35 "2005-01-23T16:23:54Z")
> [@AskNott](#): > > The point to Exhaust Gas Recirculation is improving your car’s “unburned hydrocarbon” numbers. Not all the gasoline gets burned in the engine, and one way to cut down on hydrocarbon pollution is to run some of the exhaust through the engine again. Another way is to pump fresh air into the exhaust manifold, where it will burn some more of the wasted fuel. The exhaust manifold is already hot enough that you don’t need another set of spark plugs there. > > These days, we mostly depend on catalytic convertors and improved effeciency in the engine (computer-controlled injection and gee-whiz valve gear, for example.) I thought that Exhaust Gas Recirculation was used to reduce smog compunds [by reducing the combustion chamber temperature](http://www.asashop.org/autoinc/nov97/gas.htm), not to burn unused fuel in the exhaust. Not enough exhaust can get though a EGR valve to make it useful for that. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2005, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-eating-your-own-feces-make-you-sick/286138/36 "2005-01-23T17:10:43Z")
Thank you **Qadgop** , for finally providing some actual subtantive information on the topic. > [@coffeecat](#): > > Rabbits and guinea pigs eat their cecal pellets, not their feces. Both come out of the butt, but even they know enough to leave their poop alone. :eek: Semantics. They eat one kind of the feces they produce, which are known as cecal pellets. > [@WORintoRDS](#): > > …its stupidity,depravity and un-human behaviour ! Completely irrelevant to the OP. In GQ at the Straight we try to deal with _facts_, not emotional reactions. If the OP had wanted opinions about whether eating feces was icky, they would have started a poll in IMHO (and probably gotten close to [but knowing this place not exactly] 100% that it was in fact considered _declasse_ in the higher social circles). Most of the responses here aside from **Qadgop’s** have not actually adressed the specific factual question posed by the OP. > [@WORintoRDS](#): > > .Comprendo ? Here you are asking whether you yourself understand the issue. It doesn’t seem so to me. ---
**Author:** ![CC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f1d935/32.png) [@CC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CC)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2005, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-eating-your-own-feces-make-you-sick/286138/37 "2005-01-24T14:44:51Z")
WORintoRDS: “The stomach PRODUCES acid; its cells are adapted not to be harmed by it. Now try and put it in your mouth and see what the ph will do to mouth cells !! Similarly we shouldnt think with our elbows !!! Comprendo ?” This last question is particularly funny because it’s phrased in a way that is intended to make the previous poster feel stupid. Sort of like, “What’s wrong with you, buddy, don’t you fucking get it?!!” And then he goes and misuses the expression so that he’s really asking if he, himself, understands. heh heh xo C. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2005, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-eating-your-own-feces-make-you-sick/286138/38 "2005-01-24T15:03:12Z")
> [@coffeecat](#): > > Rabbits and guinea pigs eat their cecal pellets, not their feces. Both come out of the butt, but even they know enough to leave their poop alone. :eek: That’s an interesting distinction of which I wasn’t fully aware, however, it certainly won’t be the case that the cecal pellets are devoid of the microorganisms also present in the feces, so the idea that eating your own (as a human) is OK based on observation of rabbits and GPs is still a deeply unsound one. ---
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2005, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-eating-your-own-feces-make-you-sick/286138/39 "2005-01-24T15:07:26Z")
So, the actors in those fetish videos where they eat one another’s poop (and their own, presumably)… Do they just develop a tolerance? Or do they sometimes get horribly sick? Has anyone conducted scholarly research on the gastrointestinal health of poop fetish video actors? I sense a research grant coming… ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2005, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-eating-your-own-feces-make-you-sick/286138/40 "2005-01-24T15:42:34Z")
The book **End Product: The Last Taboo** is on the subject of …uh… poop, and has more than you probably ever wanted to know. They cite at least one case of coprophagy (_there’s_ a handy word to know) without ill effects (or sexual implications). But I’d heed **Qadcop** ’s advice above. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-eating-your-own-feces-make-you-sick/286138.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-eating-your-own-feces-make-you-sick/286138.md?page=3)