Insensitive

I have always enjoyed your magazine but I have to express my disappointment at the closing flippant remarks in Alex Renton’s article, What

is Healthy Eating? [June issue] regarding faecal transplants.

This is not an ‘alternative therapy’, but an important mainstream breakthrough treatment, offered in the gastroenterology departments of some hospitals, for those suffering from the debilitating and embarrassing symptoms of Clostridium difficile and inflammatory bowel disease, particularly ulcerative colitis. As someone with two family members who suffer from inflammatory bowel disease, to liken the transplant to a celebrity fad seemed to indicate little understanding of the distressing symptoms such people suffer.