# 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:** 3
**Author:** ![Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac8455/32.png) [@Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bippy_the_Beardless)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2005, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-eating-your-own-feces-make-you-sick/286138/41 "2005-01-24T16:07:55Z")
**Qadgop** or others in the know, would the percentage of bacteria in feces be significantly lower for someone who was taking antibiotics? Dair I mention bukkake? How do participants stay healthy, do they stay healthy? ---
**Author:** ![Nunavut\_Boy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/e95f7d/32.png) [@Nunavut\_Boy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nunavut_Boy)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2005, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-eating-your-own-feces-make-you-sick/286138/42 "2005-01-24T19:08:55Z")
For someone who’s taking large amounts of powerful antibiotics, you can kill off most, if not all of the normal flora living in your gut. I am a lab tech in a hospital lab. There have been occasions when I have been trying to culture a stool sample from someone who is on big doses of antibiotics and nothing would grow. The only conculsion I can reach by this is that either all the bacteria are dead, or the presence of that much antibiotics is inhibiting their growth. In any case, killing off all of your GI flora can lead to other comlications when you STOP taking the antibiotics and some other type of bacteria not normally found as normal flora starts proliferating. You can also get nasty, nasty diarrhea as your lower GI relies on this GI flora to provide some of the nutrients from the food you eat. Don’t mess with your GI flora. Or any of your flora. Antibacterial soap pisses me off because it’s unnescessary. We’ve got some bacteria on our skin that is supposed to be there. Killing it serves no purpose and can actually lead to infection and/or anitbiotic resistance in pathogenic bacteria. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2005, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-eating-your-own-feces-make-you-sick/286138/43 "2005-01-24T19:26:08Z")
Geez, and Unca Cecil thought that [picking your nose](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1_270b.html) and [cracking your knuckles](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2_305b.html) were annoying… ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2005, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-eating-your-own-feces-make-you-sick/286138/44 "2005-01-24T21:28:23Z")
I don’t know the answer to the question; I just thought that given my user name, I should be posting in this one. Carry on. ---
**Author:** ![Mighty\_Girl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7bcc69/32.png) [@Mighty\_Girl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Girl)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2005, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-eating-your-own-feces-make-you-sick/286138/45 "2005-01-24T21:53:12Z")
> [@Qadgop the Mercotan](#): > > Just say no to autocoprophagy. Nancy Reagan would have had a successful campaign with that slogan here round the Spanish speaking countries. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![sn3kers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecd19e/32.png) [@sn3kers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sn3kers)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2005, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-eating-your-own-feces-make-you-sick/286138/46 "2005-06-15T19:49:14Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > rabbits and guinea pigs eat their own feces because (gross oversimplification)their digestive tract is too short to properly digest their food on the first pass; by the second time around, the bacteria will have broken down the cellulose etc sufficiently for the animal to absorb more nutrient from the food. Thing is… they’re not omnivorous like us, so the range of bacteria that will be present in the feces is limited. Plus of course they have evolved a digestive system that can cope with doing it. > > Fecal bacteria in the top end of the digestive system is a bad idea for humans; I’m not sure though, whether you **Shagnasty** would be able to eat his/her own poop after first cooking (maybe pan-frying?) it to destroy the bacteria. The toxins (which may not be destroyed by heating) might still be a serious problem. I realize that this has nohing to do with ingestion of fecal matter…but…what about marsupials? They aren’t receiving all the nutrients so they vomit their meals up and eat what they previously regurgitated. I have a new question to pose.Why do animals eat their digestive material when they could eat their orally projected meal? I am almost positive that vomit tastes better than that of what has alreay been digested. ---
**Author:** ![sn3kers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecd19e/32.png) [@sn3kers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sn3kers)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2005, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-eating-your-own-feces-make-you-sick/286138/47 "2005-06-15T19:50:30Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > rabbits and guinea pigs eat their own feces because (gross oversimplification)their digestive tract is too short to properly digest their food on the first pass; by the second time around, the bacteria will have broken down the cellulose etc sufficiently for the animal to absorb more nutrient from the food. Thing is… they’re not omnivorous like us, so the range of bacteria that will be present in the feces is limited. Plus of course they have evolved a digestive system that can cope with doing it. I realize that this has nohing to do with ingestion of fecal matter…but…what about marsupials? They aren’t receiving all the nutrients so they vomit their meals up and eat what they previously regurgitated. I have a new question to pose.Why do animals eat their digestive material when they could eat their orally projected meal? I am almost positive that vomit tastes better than that of what has alreay been digested. ---
**Author:** ![Gymnopithys](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/fbc32d/32.png) [@Gymnopithys](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gymnopithys)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2005, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-eating-your-own-feces-make-you-sick/286138/48 "2005-06-15T20:09:18Z")
Human babies have been seen eating their own excrements. And gorillas do it, apparently benefiting from it (explained in a TV documentary) ---
**Author:** ![Jake4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/bc8723/32.png) [@Jake4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jake4)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2005, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-eating-your-own-feces-make-you-sick/286138/49 "2005-06-16T01:16:38Z")
> [@ParentalAdvisory](#): > > > [@adam yax](#): > > > > This cries out for an experiment. > > NO IT DOESN’T I love that this comes from someone named “ParentalAdvisory.” 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2005, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-eating-your-own-feces-make-you-sick/286138/50 "2005-06-16T01:50:03Z")
I’m shocked, shocked, that this thread has gotten to 50 posts and no one has mentioned John Waters’ [Pink Flamingos](http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0069089/combined). For any poor souls who haven’t seen this classic of cinema, the last shot of the film features 300-pound transvestite Divine eating a handful of real dogshit that has just visibly emerged from a real dog. I haven’t heard what happened to Divine afterward, but according to the IMDb Trivia page for the film, " The dog feces in the infamous final scene are [sic] real. According to director John Waters, the dog was fed steak for three days beforehand." (No, I don’t know what the significance of that last part is.) ---
**Author:** ![straight\_man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/straight_man/32/3027_2.png) [@straight\_man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/straight_man)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2005, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-eating-your-own-feces-make-you-sick/286138/51 "2005-06-16T02:48:02Z")
Not sure if this counts, but a few of my predecessors who were around during The War were forced to strain the corn kernels out of their feces to reconsume them (the kernels). Granted, they were starving. It’s enough to make you an instant pacifist. ---
**Author:** ![straight\_man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/straight_man/32/3027_2.png) [@straight\_man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/straight_man)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2005, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-eating-your-own-feces-make-you-sick/286138/52 "2005-06-16T02:51:46Z")
Oops, forgot to mention: They all survived, or were killed by something unrelated. ---
**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:** [June 16, 2005, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-eating-your-own-feces-make-you-sick/286138/53 "2005-06-16T03:09:34Z")
> [@eustachian≠fallopian](#): > > Not sure if this counts, but a few of my predecessors who were around during The War were forced to strain the corn kernels out of their feces to reconsume them (the kernels). Granted, they were starving. > > It’s enough to make you an instant pacifist. Accounts of the Confederate Prisoner-of-War Camp at Andersonville, where thousands of Union prisoners starved to death (including my great-great-grandfather), mention that some prisoners resorted to eating the undigested corn kernels deposited in the latrine by others. ---
**Author:** ![bizzwire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/958977/32.png) [@bizzwire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bizzwire)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2005, 9:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-eating-your-own-feces-make-you-sick/286138/54 "2005-06-16T09:33:11Z")
> [@Qadgop the Mercotan](#): > > 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. Ya know, I was quite happy in my little world, where the idea of puking feces out of one’s nose was something that one never had to think about. The image that this little gem has conjured up is going to take a **loooong** to time to forget. Thanks, **QtM** …Thanks a lot. ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2005, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-eating-your-own-feces-make-you-sick/286138/55 "2005-06-16T13:50:05Z")
Behold - The Power of [Poop](http://www.cnn.com/2005/TRAVEL/DESTINATIONS/06/16/alaska.reut/index.html). That these folks were getting sick just by being near feces, and not eating it, tells me enough. ---
**Author:** ![hammos1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ba8739/32.png) [@hammos1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hammos1)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2005, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-eating-your-own-feces-make-you-sick/286138/56 "2005-06-16T14:51:16Z")
I remember being disturbed to read that shit-eating connoisseurs compare the taste to that of a ripe Camembert. I was going to link to a website which elaborated further on the gustatory qualities of the humble turd, but… ah… instead, I shall leave interested dopers to find it themselves. ---
**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:** [June 16, 2005, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-eating-your-own-feces-make-you-sick/286138/57 "2005-06-16T16:03:48Z")
> [@bizzwire](#): > > Ya know, I was quite happy in my little world, where the idea of puking feces out of one’s nose was something that one never had to think about. The image that this little gem has conjured up is going to take a **loooong** to time to forget. > > Thanks, **QtM** …Thanks a lot. You’re welcome! ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2005, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-eating-your-own-feces-make-you-sick/286138/58 "2005-06-16T19:38:23Z")
Quoth **commasense** : > [@](#): > > I haven’t heard what happened to Divine afterward, but according to the IMDb Trivia page for the film, " The dog feces in the infamous final scene are [sic] real. According to director John Waters, the dog was fed steak for three days beforehand." The sic is unnecessary there. “Feces” is technically plural, so it’s perfectly correct to say “the feces are”. Like “data” and “media”, it’s perhaps a bit quaint to treat it as gramattically plural, but it’s certainly not incorrect. As for the steak, I presume that would somehow improve the flavour, but I’m not going to volunteer to find out. ---
**Author:** ![Fortytwois](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f17d59/32.png) [@Fortytwois](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fortytwois)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2005, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-eating-your-own-feces-make-you-sick/286138/59 "2005-06-16T20:29:40Z")
> [@](#): > > I was going to link to a website which elaborated further on the gustatory qualities of the humble turd, Ummmm, part of me is saying EWWWWWWWWWW!!! and part of me is seriously wondering WHAT kind of fuck would be on a site raving about the taste of feces…I can almost hear them now, sort of like a wine site “Ah yes, a hint of sulfur with a delicate sprinkling of e.coli…” ---
**Author:** ![CurtC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ce73a5/32.png) [@CurtC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CurtC)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2005, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-eating-your-own-feces-make-you-sick/286138/60 "2005-06-16T21:03:25Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > As for the steak, I presume that would somehow improve the flavour, but I’m not going to volunteer to find out. My assumption when I read that is that typical dog food (especially the canned kind) is pretty disgusting by itself. I guess when it comes down to it, I’d rather eat steak that had passed through a dog than canned dog food that had passed through a dog. I’ll do that right after I drink me some civet coffee. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-eating-your-own-feces-make-you-sick/286138.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-eating-your-own-feces-make-you-sick/286138.md?page=4)