Research published in Cells report drugs It reveals that the frequency of bowel movements has a significant impact on physiology and long-term health, with the best results being associated with passing once or twice a day.
Previous studies suggest that the association between constipation and diarrhea is associated with the risk of infection and neurodegenerative status, respectively.
However, these findings were observed in patients with illness, so whether irregular bathroom visits were the cause or result of the condition remained unclear.
“I hope this work brings a bit of a mind for clinicians who are a little open to the potential risk of not managing the frequency of intestinal movement,” Sean Gibbons of the Institute of Systems Biology told AFP, explaining that doctors often view irregular movements as simply “evil.”
Gibbons and his team collected clinical, lifestyle and biological data, including blood chemistry, gut microbiome, and genetics, from over 1,400 healthy adult volunteers with no signs of active disease.
Participants’ self-reported defecation frequencies were divided into four groups: constipation (one or two gut movements per week), low normal (3-6 weeks), high normal (1-3 days per day), and diarrhea.
When the stool is too long in the intestine, microorganisms expel available fibers – it ferments into beneficial short-chain fatty acids, and instead fermentes fermenting proteins, producing toxins such as P-Cresol sulfate and indoxyl sulfate.
“What we found is that even healthy people with constipation have an increase in these toxins in their bloodstream,” Gibbons said.
Fruit and Vegetable Key
In the case of diarrhea, the team discovered clinical chemicals that indicate inflammation and liver damage.
Gibbons explained that during diarrhea the body excretes excess bile acids, and otherwise the liver recycles it to dissolve and absorb dietary fat.
The fibre fermented intestinal bacteria known as “stricken anaerobic” are associated with health that flourished in the “Goldilockszone” of one day or two poops.
However, Gibbons emphasized that more research is needed to define this optimal range more accurately.
Demographically, young people, women, and people with lower body indexes tended to have less frequent bowel movements.
The difference between hormones and neurological differences between men and women may explain the gap, Gibbons said, along with the fact that men generally consume more food.
Finally, by combining biological data with a lifestyle questionnaire, the team drew a clear picture of people who usually fall into the Goldilocks zone.
“It was eating more fruits and vegetables, that was the biggest signal we’ve seen,” Gibbons said.
The next step in this study involved designing clinical trials to manage defecation in large numbers, followed by evaluation of their potential in disease prevention.
©Agence France-Presse
