About The Film

The feature documentary "It takes Guts", follows director Adrienne Grierson as she investigates and undergoes a controversial but promising new procedure: Fecal Microbiota Transplantation. Filmed over four years, Adrienne meets a cast of characters with varying diseases across the globe trying FMT to restore their health and the Doctors and Scientists leading the way.

Donor poop is highly tested, cleaned, reduced mostly to its useful bacteria, and then “transplanted” to the patient’s colon in the hopes of repopulating their disrupted biomes with healthier bacteria. FMT is at the forefront of a major paradigm shift in scientific thinking which argues that our gut bacteria is a critical protagonist in the story of human disease. 

With her own health at stake, Grierson fearlessly strikes out--with humor and hope--to meet donors, doctors and patients, and to determine whether FMT is, as many believe, a game changing treatment not only for digestive troubles that defy diagnosis, but chronic and debilitating diseases like Crohn’s, Ulcerative Colitis, Parkinson’s, MS, and even Autism.

Grierson will also connect with the growing DIY community who have elected to "take matters into their own hands". Many are from the U.S. where FMT remains illegal to administer with rare exceptions like unresponsive Clostridium Difficile which killed 29,000 Americans in 2011 within 30 days of contracting the infection. These numbers were partially responsible for the FDA's 2013 decision to classify FMT as an investigational drug, allowing physicians and scientists to submit an IND (investigative new drug application).

For Grierson, like countless others, the stakes are high and her candid, no shame approach keeps the film intimate, bold, and on the front lines of the science and medicine it investigates. Unprecedented and exclusive access to the leading pioneers of this paradigm shift, from the USA, Australia and Argentina to the UK, Brazil, Canada, China, Portugal and beyond, promises to make the film a feat of global journalism and a humorous, poignant, and human story of extraordinary breadth.

There is a global trend towards holistic health and 6% of U.S. consumers say they are vegan — a 600% increase compared to just 1% in 2014. In Great Britain, approximately 1.16% of the population (600,000 people) reported being vegan in 2018 — a 300% increase from 2014, when 150,000, or 0.25% of the population, was reported. Probiotics  were valued at about 49.4 billion U.S. dollars in 2018, and forecast to reach to about 69.3 billion dollars by 2023

It Takes Guts ties in with these already known trends and will appeal to many as  the growing awareness of nutrition and health continues to dominate the world and peoples discomfort and digestive issues continue to increase. It Takes Guts will cover a lot of bases and appeal to a large mainstream audience from anyone in the general public interested in health or with an illness, as well as doctors,  educational institutions and communities caring for people with specific health issues. It will raise awareness and help people navigate through their illness thus improving their life by offering fresh information and alternate options.

STATISTICS

Worldwide approximately 46 million people suffer from Bipolar disorder, 264 million from depression, 284 million from an anxiety disorder and 7-10 million from Parkinsons. Ten million suffer from fibromyalgia in the USA alone. In the developed world, Autism Spectrum Disorder is claiming 27,343,291 and Inflammatory Bowel Disease, (including Crohns disease, and Ulcerative Colitis) claim 13,206,810.

The cost to the US health care industry alone for ASD is US$268 billion (£204 billion) rising to 461 billion (£351 billion) in 2025 and the IBD cost to the USA health care industry is 14.6 (£11 billion) rising to 31.6 (£24 billion). In 2018 the CDC determined that approximately 1 in 59 children is diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD). 1 in 37 boys  and 1 in 151 girls.  The percentage of children aged 3–17 years diagnosed with a developmental disability increased–from 16.2% in 2009–2011 to 17.8% in 2015–2017.

A recent study reveals that half of millennials and 75% of Gen Zers have left a job for mental health reasons.

It Takes Guts is now entering post production and is raising funds for completion. 

About The Film Maker

Adrienne Grierson is a documentary filmmaker who also suffered most of her life with  digestive trouble...

Learn More

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