Video: Norwich professor swallows tiny camera to video his gut

Professor Simon Carding, head of gut health and food safety at the Institute of Food Research, gets ready to swallow the pill cam which will photograph his gut digesting food. Picture: Denise Bradley Archant

A Norwich scientist has swallowed a tiny camera to take images and video of his gut for a public open day.

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Professor Simon Carding, head of gut health and food safety at the Institute of Food Research (IFR), swallowed the ‘pillcam’ this morning and then had an unusual breakfast of brightly-coloured peppers.

Prof Carding will be presenting the footage taken from inside his gut at the IFR’s public open day as part of a talk to help the public understand more about how the gut works and also about the institute’s research.

The tiny camera is a wireless capsule endoscope which will take 60,000 images of Prof Carding’s small bowel in a few hours today.

The disposable device was administered this morning under the watchful eye of Dr Crawford Jamieson, a consultant gastroenterologist at the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital who uses the pillcam for some of his patients.

The Institute of Food Research’s open day The IFR is opening its doors on Saturday, September 29, to give members of the public the chance to see what goes on inside this leading research centre. Visitors will be able to find out how it is worked out why certain foods are healthy, and how with “super-broccoli” scientists are looking to make them even healthier. They can also learn the difference between good and bad fats, and take part in a taste panel testing foods to see if they can taste the difference in low fat ice cream. Children will be able to walk through the giant inflatable colon, as well as explore the microscopic molecular structure in foods. Inside IFR is a free event, being held at the Institute of Food Research on the Norwich Research Park NR4 7UA, on Saturday, September 29, 10am to 4pm.

It will transmit the images to a data receiver strapped to Prof Carding’s body, and to see some of the photographs and video captured from inside Prof Carding’s gut, log on to this website tomorrow (Thursday). The full story and photographs will also be in Friday’s paper.