How Long Poop Stays In Your Body May Affect Your Health
A “normal” poop schedule varies a lot from person to person. The NHS says anything from three times a week to thrice a day can be normal, especially if they’re smooth, easy-to-pass bowel movements. But according to a 2023 review published in the journal Gut, people’s “gut transit time” might be key to learning about their gut health. They think that differences in how long it takes people to pass a bowel movement might explain “large proportions of the gut microbiota compositional variation between people,” which may itself be linked to health issues. What might my poop schedule say about my health? The researchers looked at previous research that tracked how long it took food to pass through participants’ systems, as well as their microbiomes and conditions like IBS and cirrhosis of the liver. They found that people whose food’s journey from mouth to loo took a little longer tended to have more bacteria that feed on protein. And those with lower-fat, higher-carb diets seemed to have a faster transit time. Both very fast and …
