Who’s number 1 at number two? The country with the largest average bowel movements? Denmark, India, Japan, New Zealand, South Africa, Tonga (an island in the South Pacific), the UK, or the US of A? Remember, the target minimum fecal output is 200 grams a day—about half a pound.

And the winner of the Bowels of the Earth contest was Tonga at 531! The only other country to make the 200 target was India, who gets the silver at 311, with individual measurements ranging up to 1,505 grams—that’s more than three pounds a day! That’s impressive. And the bronze goes to Japan at 195—almost made the cutoff. Everyone else fell short, though, with the smallest stools in the world colored red, white, and blue. U.S. vegetarians fared better, though, as did vegetarian and especially vegan Brits.

There actually was one population that did even worse than the standard American diet. The smallest average population bowel movement size ever recorded: New Yorkers. That’s less than 3 ounces a day.

Instead of just living there, if only they would actually eat a big apple once in a while.

On the other end of the spectrum, though, what are they eating in Tonga? Well, this was recorded decades ago, when they were still eating their traditional plant-based diet of taro, greens, sweet potatoes, fruit, more greens, bananas, cabbage, etcetera.

Now, tragically, the most frequently consumed food item in the country is “imported chicken parts.”

And this is what happened. From one of the healthiest nations in the world, to one of the most obese. Thanks, in part, to the Westernization of their diets.

To see any graphs, charts, graphics, images, and quotes to which Dr. Greger may be referring, watch the above video. This is just an approximation of the audio contributed by Dianne Moore.

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