From the Department of Hey, who knew we’d talk so much about poop today? Hack your health: the secrets of your intestine, a block of quasi-documentary content from Netflix that takes root in our guts and emerges with some compelling science about our relationship with food. Or, more accurately, it has its roots in the intestines of four people with various health problems that could be treated with a greater understanding of the microbiomes within their bodies. It also features a serious doctor who uses the word “ass” more than once, so not only are we informed, but our inner eight-year-old can be entertained as well.
HACK YOUR HEALTH: THE SECRETS OF YOUR GUT: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?
The essence: If there is a “celebrity intestinal doctor,” it’s probably Giulia Enders. She’s the face of this documentary, a German scientist who has studied and written extensively about the gut, and she’s also the aforementioned user of the word “ass,” which sounds a little funnier due to her accent. The use of that word helps set the tone of The secrets of your intestine, which is no stranger to the inherent and undeniable comedy of bathroom humor. In fact, one of the several gut scientists featured in this film coins the phrase “repopulate” while talking about a very new treatment for gut bacteria called “fecal microbiome transplantation.” Still, puns on manure and the like aren’t necessarily incongruent with the seriousness of the film’s main themes, four people struggling with some familiar and relatable (and relatable) gut-related health issues. one that is not at all relatable, but nonetheless fascinating from an objective perspective). ).
And so we have Maya, a Michelin-starred pastry chef who has battled anorexia and feels terrible eating anything but vegetables and supplements, which means she can’t even eat her own delicious concoctions, like this crazy tower of cakes topped with macaroons. Daniell is a psychology student whose terrible dietary choices now have her dealing with a series of digestive problems; Now, she can only eat about 15 different foods that don’t cause pain. Kimmie’s situation will sound familiar to many: she has been labeled morbidly obese and she cannot lose weight despite trying a variety of diets, exercise regimens and medications. And then there’s the guy you’ve probably heard of, Kobayashi, the world-renowned competitive eater who devours inhuman amounts of hot dogs and slices of pizza, etc., and now, perhaps surprising to no one, no longer experiences feelings of hunger. , and she worries that her particularly limited career has damaged her body.
Some answers, according to Enders and the other experts in this paper, could be found in the microbiome, the community of bacteria that lives inside the human body. Like fingerprints, each of our microbiomes is different. It is also no surprise to anyone that the microbiomes of people living in industrialized societies lack the persity of bacteria we need to be healthy, which is a result of consuming processed foods. So doctors asked Maya, Daniell, Kimmie, and Kobayashi to send them fecal samples so they could analyze their microbiomes and compare them to foods that will help them grow a wider variety of gut bacteria and therefore feel better.
What movies will it remind you of?: The secrets of your intestine is similar to the not-quite-documentary films and series that are piling up on Netflix, for example, Live to 100, The mind: explained either Be smart with money.
Performance worth seeing: In particular, Kobayashi shows little shame in devouring incredible quantities of hot dogs in front of international audiences, and thus apparently has no problem with a documentary crew following him into the bathroom to collect a dookie sample with a tiny spoon. (Note that the film spares us the graphic details of this scene.)
Memorable dialogue: Microbial ecologist Jack Gilbert reflects on how new the study of microbiomes is: “At the beginning of microbiome science, we were really our own guinea pigs. “My colleagues and I picked up our own poop and put it in freezers.”
Sex and skin: All this talk about what comes out of cigarette butts, and not a single swallow of cigarette butts.
Our opinion: The secrets of your intestine It doesn’t sound like pseudoscience, which is what always worries about things like this. Although it does not delve into the tedious details of scientific studies, it also avoids giving us simple and easy answers to complex questions. At times it feels like a movie your sixth-grade science teacher would put on the projector so he could pe in and smoke a cigarette: lots of infotainment-style tidbits and cheesy stop-motion animation (reminiscent, most of all, of the trolls films) allows director Anjali Nayar to replace real poop logs with bug-eyed puppets so no one gets too grossed out here.
One of the key takeaways emerges in a sequence illustrating how the body chemistry of the film’s four main subjects reacts differently to eating the same apple: There may not be a one-size-fits-all answer to all gut health concerns. It all comes down to our inpidual microbiomes, which can be analyzed (please pronounce this with ANAL eyes, so I can join in on the poop pun) for their deficiencies; for example, Kimmie, who lacks bacteria that makes her feel full, so now you can use this information to determine which foods will help you persify her microbiome and develop a beneficial diet for her particular situation.
And so, each of the four subjects has a different potential solution to their problems. One fascinating revelation is that our gut has a “second brain” that communicates feelings of hunger or fullness to the brain in our skull, leading scientists to conclude that the gut may be linked to a variety of health problems. Listen to this anecdote: Daniell decides to try a fecal microbiome transplant, which requires (I’m not making this up) essentially consuming someone else’s poop. Don’t worry, it’s not as gross as it seems. We see his boyfriend take one of his dookies out of the refrigerator and place it in a blender so he can inject it into capsules and easily supplement it. He suffers from depression and when she takes those pills, she suffers from depression. He tried the same thing with his brother’s leftovers and ended up with the same problems with acne breakouts. This is absolutely fascinating bullshit science!
Oh, and one thing I feel compelled to mention: scientists have a recommendation that every human being should follow: eat more plants. Fiber is GREAT for your gut. As my dad used to tell me, “Fonzie says eat your vegetables.” And of course, what The Fonz says is valid.
Our call: It’s not the hard science of a top-notch PBS documentary, but Hack your health: the secrets of your intestine provides us with reasonably informative and useful information in an easily digestible form. I apologize, but I also urge you to STREAM IT, because you might learn something about the emerging science.
John Serba is a freelance writer and film critic living in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
