Intestinal fortitude was needed to produce a new BBC series starting tonight. But you may find some of the facts hard to digest. Nigel Benson talks to presenter Michael Mosley.
Michael Mosley had to put his body on the line for his latest television series.
What's Your Body Hiding? which starts at 9.30pm today on BBC Knowledge, is a collection of programmes which reveal some uncomfortable facts about food, health and well-being.
The BBC presenter had to take a good look at himself to produce the series.
''I thought it would be quite fun to look at my own gut and share the experience,'' Mosley said last week.
''The human body is one of the wonders of the universe. You actually have a second brain down there. There are as many brain cells in your gut as in the head of a cat. Your stomach is as smart as the average tabby.''
In tonight's premiere, Guts, Mosley looks deep into his own digestive system to reveal what we look like inside.
''It was a really weird landscape. It's a landscape that we're fully aware of, but don't know much about,'' he said.
''Seeing what your stomach does when it's digesting food is a bit squishy.''
The episode uses miniature ''pill'' cameras which the presenter swallows at the start of the film, before taking viewers on a journey through his own internal system.
''I was aware of the miniature camera technology, so I got doctors to use it to look at my system. I swallowed a camera and another one went down my nose and they took photos all through my system.
"I had to take four litres of laxative the night before. Unfortunately, that meant I had to call off a dinner I had scheduled with the director general of the BBC.''
At each stage he talks to medical experts and explains some of the functions that we rely on, but are blissfully unaware of.
''There's a seriousness in the programmes, as well. It's important to understand that our eating habits are manipulated. What's your body hiding? Are you really as healthy as you think you are?
"A study in July showed that New Zealand is the third highest-country in the world for obesity, after Mexico and the United States. A lot of people are carrying fat, particularly in the gut. It is, largely, a cultural issue. The Chinese say to always leave the table when you're seven-eighths full.''
The series includes Mosley's documentaries, Eat, Fast and Live Longer, Guts and The Truth About Exercise and programmes The Men Who Made Us Fat, India's Supersized Kids and The Truth About Taste.
''It's full of new information, new things and surprises,'' he says.
''Hopefully, people will learn something about themselves that they didn't know.''
Mosley (56) is a science presenter, writer and executive producer, who produces science-based documentaries on exercise and diet and is the author of bestselling book The Fast Diet, which looks at the benefits of fasting for two days a week.
• What's Your Body Hiding? starts tonight at 9.30pm, on BBC Knowledge.
