• Question: does poo tell you what medication a person has been taking

    Asked by benandizaak to Katherine on 21 Jun 2011.
    • Photo: Katherine Jones

      Katherine Jones answered on 21 Jun 2011:

      Yes, it can do sometimes! But looking at urine is more useful…

      When we take a medicine, the body (mainly in the liver) breaks it down, and then the chemicals that are made are passed out, usually in the urine. So you can look at the urine and see what medication someone has been taken.

      This is also used in sport to test for people who have taken drugs to increase their performance. You may have heard that sports people have urine tests. The drug tests for the olympics in London 2012 are being done in labs owned by my company!

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