GoKawiilWhether poop speeds through your gut like a bullet train or takes a more smell-the-roses approach could have more profound implications for your overall health than a first glance would suggest.
According to a 2023 review that combined data from dozens of studies, distinct differences can be observed between the gut microbiomes of 'speeders' and 'slowpokes'.
Since the human gut microbiome is intrinsically linked to health, this could have implications that have gone unnoticed before now.
In particular, slow transit times and constipation have been linked with metabolic and inflammatory disorders, as well as neurological disorders such as Parkinson's disease.
Figuring out the microbiome profiles associated with these gut transit times could help develop new ways to treat and manage these conditions.
"By taking into account the interindividual and intraindividual differences in gut transit time, we can advance our understanding of diet–microbiota interactions and disease-related microbiome signatures," writes a team led by nutritionists Nicola Procházková and Henrik Roager of the University of Copenhagen.
"Altogether, a better understanding of the complex, bidirectional interactions between the gut microbiota and transit time is required to better understand gut microbiome variations in health and disease."
We know the gut microbiome, both in composition and activity, plays an important role in health. We also know that it can be shaped by a variety of mechanisms, from exercise to diet to disease.
Procházková and her colleagues wanted to know if we were overlooking a very simple thing that could affect gut microbes: how long they spend hanging out with poop before it makes its way to the wild loo yonder.
The team tapped into previously published research on participants' gut transit time, including stool consistency (a proxy for transit time), diet, the composition of their microbiomes, and the metabolites produced by those microbes.
... continue reading