The intestine has a “Goldilocks zone.” And if we often defecate outside it, we must pay attention.

Pooping is a thermometer of gut health. So much so that in Australia they encourage employees do your things at work. It is a moment that we can even take advantage to read or to do infinite scroll on mobile (even for share the site where we are pooping), but also one we should pay more attention to.

The reason is that the time and frequency are details that say a lot about our long-term health.

Cause or consequence? Over the years, different research has been carried out on the importance of defecation as such, but also on the ideal time to do itits frequency and the shape, size and texture that they should have the depositions. Studies have been carried out that linked the constipation with a higher risk of infections and diarrhea chronic with neurodegenerative diseases.

However, these observations were made in subjects who already had a disease, so it was necessary to find out if the intestinal problem was a cause or a consequence. Since science is not done alone, a team from Institute for Systems Biology took the lead in answering that question.

The study. In it studyresearchers Sean Gibbons and Johannes Johnson-Martinez analyzed the clinical, genetic, microbiological and lifestyle variables of 1,400 healthy adults. Something that the subjects had to detail was the frequency of bowel movements, which would be classified as follows:

• Once or twice a week – Constipation.
• Three to six times a week – Low frequency.
• One to three times a day – Normal frequency.
• More than three times a day – Diarrhea.

“Goldilocks Zone”. Researchers found that people who reported eating a high-fiber diet, exercising regularly, and being well hydrated had good bowel movements. In a display of scientific humor, they baptized this “the Goldilocks zone,” which is a bowel movement frequency of between one and two bowel movements a day.

That is the point at which, according to researchers, the balance between the microbiome and physiological markers is optimal. Therefore, the optimal frequency is between one and two times a day, but this is not always the case and when there is an imbalance that is when problems begin within us.

More serious than it seems. Johnson-Martinez comments that “if feces remain in the intestine for too long, microbes use up all the available dietary fiber, something they normally ferment to produce short-chain fatty acids that are beneficial for health. If this happens, the ecosystem changes and begins to ferment proteins, which generates various toxins that can reach the bloodstream.”

Those byproducts of protein fermentation leaked into the bloodstream, such as p-cresol sulfate and indoxyl sulfate, pass to the kidneys, being associated with markers of worse kidney function… constipation. If, on the other hand, diarrhea occurs, the feces practically do not pass through the intestine, causing clinical parameters related to liver damage. That is to say: with constipation, the kidneys suffer. With diarrhea, the liver.

Snitch. Gibbons comments that chronic constipation, which we have just seen what effects it produces, has been associated with neurodegenerative disorders and the chronic progression of kidney diseases. What remains is to define whether this abnormality in intestinal movement is an early warning of a chronic disease or organ damage.

Now, the study also explores how this frequency of intestinal movement is also related to the anxiety and depressionrelating mental health to bowel movements. The researchers comment that it has been possible to link the frequency of bowel movements with all body systems and how it is something that can be a risk factor in the development of chronic diseases.

Their hope is that medicine will take bowel movements seriously to “optimize health and well-being, even in healthy populations, based on bowel movement frequency.” And something interesting is that, if we do not have any problem, we should neither hold back the urge nor force it, because we artificially reduce and increase the time that the feces are in the intestine.

Study the feces. There is an important detail that must be taken into account: having a frequency other than once/twice a day may be normal. The problem is when it becomes chronic. That’s when we should ask ourselves what is happening. There may be a health problem, but also that we have a diet low in fiber from fruits and vegetables.

It is logical, but food and our lifestyle It is something inseparable from our feces. Plus, keeping an eye on them from time to time is not a bad idea because it is a free gut health test. Also you can scan your poop with an app that analyzes it thanks to AI.

The time matters. Being in the “Goldilocks zone” is relevant, but previous studies have also explored the idea that when we poop is relevant, too. Studies carried out in 2020 and 2022 They related circadian rhythms to gastrointestinal activity. At night, intestinal activity decreases significantly, but during the day, especially after waking up or eating, there is greater mobility.

An optimal time is half an hour after waking up, since the colon is activated after a night’s rest, but defecating later than that moment does not mean that something is wrong because there is some flexibility in the matter.

Images | Cabot Health, Bristol Stool Chart, Sincerely Media

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