[Seriously?] New organ discovered

With the discovery of the part of the gut responsible for ‘gut feeling’, nutritional researchers at WUR have a possible explanation for obesity.

We thought we pretty much had the human body covered, but that turns out not to be the case. A team in Human Nutrition & Health have discovered a new organ hidden within our winding intestinal system, which they have dubbed the ‘feeling’ gut. The news has stunned the medical world.

‘It is incredible that medics and spin doctors have failed to see this organ for so long,’ says team leader Pieter Nelleke. ‘Apparently it has been there all the time. It even makes sounds. I came across it by accident when I was performing an ultrasound test on someone in a trial. Suddenly I saw something on the screen that looked suspiciously like an exclamation mark.’

At first, Nelleke thought it must be a neglected stomach ulcer, possibly caused by festering feelings of dissatisfaction with the body politic. But further research revealed this was definitely something new. That was three months ago. The discovery has been kept under wraps since then. But now a nationwide survey shows at least two million Dutch people have voted using the newly discovered organ. It is not clear why not all Dutch have this same ‘gut feeling’. ‘We are still in the speculative stage but we are wondering about a link with obesity. Not in the sense that only fat people have a functioning ‘feeling’ gut, but the two phenomena might have the same underlying cause.’ And that is good news. According to Nelleke, there is an obvious remedy: a proper diet.

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