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Ever wondered what happens once you've popped a pill? 

Well now you can watch this journey for yourself on video footage, captured by a pioneering camera.

The futuristic 'Pillcam' is a tiny camera fitted with a flashing LED light, designed to show up any abnormalities inside the human body.

Scroll down for video 

Once the patient has swallowed the Pillcam (pictured) - which are used only once - it travels all the way through the body in a matter of hours. The patient wears a belt, which receives and stores the images, to help identify conditions such as coeliac disease and Crohn's Disease in the small bowel 

The camera is swallowed in the same way as traditional tablets, and takes the same route as food. 

It travels through the body, capturing 18 photos ever second.

It means doctors and nurses can see more of the internal organs, picking up problems that external scans may not find.

Dr Salil Singh, a consultant gastroenterologist who introduced capsule endoscopy to the Royal Bolton Hospital, said: 'There is a huge amount we are not able to see with a usual endoscopy.

'Most people find it fascinating. This really was science fiction 20 years ago but now it's a reality.'

While body parts such as the oesophagus, stomach and large bowel can be successfully scanned using traditional equipment, other organs such as the intestines and small bowel are not accessible with an endoscope - a thin, flexible tube with a camera on the end.

Also, the small bowel, which measures between six and 26ft (two and eight metres) long, lies in the middle of the digestive system - making it difficult for medical staff to examine.

The very unique perspective from inside the human body

While body parts such as the oesophagus, stomach and large bowel can be successfully scanned using traditional equipment, other organs such as the intestines and small bowel (pictured on the Pillcam) are not accessible with an endoscope - a thin, flexible tube with a camera on the end

Once the patient has swallowed the Pillcam - which are used only once - it travels all the way through the body in a matter of hours.

The patient wears a belt, which receives and stores the images to help identify conditions such as coeliac disease and Crohn's Disease.

The capsule endoscopy costs around £500 a time and it is available at a handful of hospitals in the UK including Bolton, Wythenshawe and Neath Port Talbot.

Brenda Dalton, a nurse endoscopist at the Royal Bolton, added: 'You can tell patients find it a fascinating experience.

'This equipment enables to look at parts of the anatomy we are not able to access very easily.' 

The capsule endoscopy (pictured) costs around £500 a time, and it is available at a handful of hospitals in the UK including Bolton, Wythensahw and Neath Port Talbot