A 16-year-old boy from central India has caused alarm after apparently going 18 months without answering nature's call.

Footage from November 21 shows happy teenager Ashish Chandil in his family home in the state of Madhya Pradesh. But his family have expressed concerned to local doctors because he has not defecated for 18 months, despite a daily diet of 20 flatbreads.

Chandil's family fear the boy could have some chronic condition.

Despite reportedly consulting several medical experts, no doctor has been able to definitively diagnose any illness.

However, paediatrician Dr Banwari Goya of Morena District Hospital suspects it to be an unusual case of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) or ulcerative colitis (UC).

On being asked how the boy is being able to function normally without defecating, Dr Goyal suggested that sometimes a person experiences such a high basal metabolic rate (BMR) that it causes the body to digest every last food particle.

He added that 18 months is a long time for someone to not be defecating even the tiniest amount of excreta.

Chandil has been recommended to follow the full course of his medicines and keep in touch with at least one of the gastroenterologists he has consulted with in the past 18 months.

A full-body check-up, including an intestinal biopsy, has been advocated.

In an interview, Chandil expressed that he suffers from a negligible pain in his abdominal area that subsides on its own.

The family of a 16-year-old has been anxious ever since he stopped defecating 18 months ago in central India's Madhya Pradesh. The family belongs to Morena.

A video shot on November 21 shows the teenager named Ashish Chandil eating stomach-full of bread and pulses. He has a diet of around 20 of those flatbreads in a single day.

Although he is facing no major difficulties for the past 18 months, his family is troubled after no particular reason has been singled out for his strange metabolic behaviour. They fear him falling prey to a chronic incurable disease.

After consulting a variety of doctors, and having undergone a variety of tests, no healthcare expert has been able to identify the cause of the absence of regular defecation. However, Paediatrician Dr Banwari Goyal suspects it to be an unusual case of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) or ulcerative colitis (UC).

On being asked how the boy is being able to function normally even after not excreting out the wastes from his body, Dr Goyal suggested that sometimes a person experiences such a high basal metabolic rate (BMR) that it causes the body to digest every last food particle. He added that 18 months is a long time for someone to not be defecating even the least amount of excreta.

Chandil has been recommended to follow the full course of his medicines and keep in touch with at least one of the gastroenterologists he has consulted with in the past 18 months. A full-body check-up, including an intestinal biopsy, has been advocated.

In an interview, Chandil expressed that he suffers from a negligible pain in his abdominal area that subsides on its own. Other than that, he stated that this rare condition has not interfered with his eating pattern as he has been eating over eight flatbreads for one meal in a day.