Season 3
Body Hits is an episodic documentary show made by the BBC that focuses on what goes on inside people's bodies as they fight their way through their hectic modern lifestyles.
It is presented by Dr John Marsden, a chartered psychologist and Senior Lecturer in Addictive Behaviour at London's Institute of Psychiatry and a senior member of the UK National Addiction Centre.
Season 3
In the third season of Body Hits there are more fascinating explorations into how our everyday experiences impact on our bodies.
Dr John Marsden, a psychologist who admits he has an 'allergy to boredom', again volunteers to undergo tests and, with the help of real life case studies, brings the science of our lifestyles to life.
Whether you're a twentysomething diet fanatic or a 35-year-old who prefers beer and burritos to burning fat, you are what you eat.
In Snack Attack, John finds out to his horror that the healthy lifestyle he thinks he has doesn't hold up to much scrutiny.
How does the way we look affect the way we think about ourselves and others? Daniel says his drastic makeover will cut short his career as a comedian. Sam's obsessed with her wrinkles and Gary hates his thinning hairline. Face Value looks at the available treatments.
In Love Bugs, Dr Marsden investigates the diseases with greatest impact on the 25-34 age group - sexually transmitted infections. He pays a visit to a factory to find out how the latest latex can help prevent infection.
The murky world of body odour - flatulence, bad breath and smelly sweat is put under the microscope in Nasty Niffs.
In Sports Junkies John tries to improve his running time with a common supplement banned from the World Anti-Doping Agency's list until recently: caffeine.
Season 3 Episode Summaries
Snack Attack
Dr Marsden uncovers the science behind nutrition, and meets three people with very different attitudes towards their diet.
Aimee is a 20-something city slicker whose diet consists of cereal for supper, cheese, alcohol and cigarettes. She thinks her high metabolism is what's keeping her thin - she's in for a surprise when we push her body to the limit.
Mike wouldn't know what to do with a vegetable if it came up and smacked him in the face. His idea of a perfect meal is a burrito - with at least four different types of hot sauce, not to mention the sour cream topping. Is Mike's diet so bad it's actually changing his body's chemistry?
Rebecca doesn't drink or smoke; she keeps a close eye on her diet and takes five vitamin and mineral supplements each and every day. But do they really work? We put a part of her body to the test to find out.
Dr Marsden joins Aimee, Mike and Rebecca as all four are prodded and probed, scanned and scrutinised, tested and inspected in a quest to discover what food really does to them - inside and out.
In the end, John discovers the shocking truth about his own diet and agrees to a scan which may reveal his biggest fear of all.
Face Value
Dr Marsden finds out how the way we look affects the way we think about ourselves and others.
Sam is in her late 20s, obsessed with her wrinkles and prepared to try anything to turn back time. Sam and John undertake an experiment to find out whether the promises of anti-ageing creams really come true.
Stand-up comedian Dan feels that life's too short to spend time grooming yourself. He is seriously low maintenance. He is challenged to a total makeover and is made to use a full range of male products for a few weeks. Will the products improve his skin? And what will his girlfriend make of his new look?
Gary is in the sorry situation of being a hairdresser who's losing his hair. John takes him to a leading trichologist to discover whether there is anything he can do to hold onto his hair.
Love Bugs
One in 10 of us picks up a Sexually Transmitted Infection during our lifetime. 'Love Bugs' dives under the covers to find out what exactly you're sharing your sheets with. Dr Marsden finds out how some of the 25 different infections and infestations impact on our bodies.
Julie's one-night-stand led to months of pain and embarrassment; she caught herpes three years ago and talks openly about how she feels about it.
Tracy still lives with the consequences of an infection given to her by her first partner.
Jason agonises about telling his girlfriend he's picked up an infection. We follow him as he visits the clinic, and find out if the results will change the way he views his sex life.
Finally, Matthew - a senior STI nurse - reveals that he and his colleagues don't always practice what they preach.
The show road tests condoms and John Marsden pays a visit to a factory to find out just how the latest latex can help spice up your sex life.
Nasty Niffs
From bad breath to smelly farts to ripe body odour, explore the science behind our nasty niffs and what causes them.
The show reveals that the natural bacteria living in and on our bodies are mostly to blame for our malodours. So, can we do anything about it, or should we just sit back and blame the bacteria?
We all fart, but some of us fart more than we should. Meet Tim, an architect, whose excessive farting drives his workmates mad. In an effort to reduce his farting to more sociable levels, Tim seeks advice from a Nutritionist.
The show follows Tim through the highs and lows of his 10-day anti-fart diet. Will he stick to the diet and more importantly, will it work?
Also featured is the band The Treliks, who have agreed to be lab rats. After jumping around on stage at a sweaty gig, samples of their underarm bacteria and sweat are colected to determine who reeks the most and why. Is BO related to how much we sweat or the type of bacteria lurking in our pits?
We've probably all at sometime gone to bed without cleaning our teeth and awoken to a furry tongue and morning breath. Chris hasn't cleaned his teeth for five days and Maddie has eaten garlic for five days. How will they fare when they visit the Fresh Breath Centre for breath assessment?
Meanwhile, presenter John Marsden sweats it out in a foil body bag to collect and analyse his bodily odours. At the end of the day, it's only natural to whiff a little but the question is will Eau de Marsden be hot or not?
Sports Junkies
How far would you go to win at your favourite sport? Would you take anything that's not on the banned list? Or would you refuse even a simple supplement?
In this sweaty episode, John Marsden asks what counts as cheating today. For instance - he tests claims that caffeine improves stamina by about 5% (which is plenty enough to make the difference between fourth and gold) and asks if it's true, how come caffeine is off the banned list for the Athens Olympics?
John also meets people with very different attitudes to the use of drugs and supplements in sport. Chris has been taking steroids to improve his muscles for so long that he's seen both the good and bad effects. But he still thinks it's worthwhile and is convinced it's not cheating - because steroids alone aren't enough to make you a competition winner.
London's worst hockey team 'The Sinners' are willing to try anything and get roped into an experiment to see if a high street supplement really can give you an athlete's body without the hard work. Can Creatine really be better than exercise?
Mark Richardson, 400 metre sprinter and Olympic silver medallist, tells how he convinced the sport's authorities that his positive test result for the banned steroid nandrolone was caused by apparently innocent dietary supplements.