Study finds that pooping twice a day improves long-term health | Health

How often should you go to the bathroom? A study published Tuesday (16) in the journal Cell Reports Medicine showed that defecating once or twice a day improves long-term health.

Previous research links constipation and diarrhea to increased risks of infections and neurodegenerative diseases. But these results were observed in sick patients..

“I hope this work opens up doctors' minds a little bit to the potential risks of not controlling the frequency of bowel movements,” lead author Sean Gibbons told AFP, explaining that doctors often dismiss irregular bowel movements as just a “nuisance.”

Gibbons and his team collected clinical, lifestyle and biological data — including gut microbiome and genetic data, among other things — from more than 1,400 healthy adults with no signs of disease.

Participants' reported bathroom visit frequencies were categorized into four groups: cold (one or two bowel movements per week) Normal Low (three to six per week), Normal High (one to three per day) and Diarrhea.

When stool remains in the intestines for a long time, Bacteria ferment proteins and produce toxins..

“We found that even in healthy people with constipation, there is an increase in these toxins in the bloodstream, which is particularly damaging to the kidneys,” Gibbons explained.

In cases of diarrhea, the team found clinical chemistry tests that suggested inflammation and liver damage. According to Gibbons, during diarrhea, the body produces excess bile acid, which the liver recycles to dissolve and absorb dietary fat.

Intestinal bacteria known as “strict anaerobic”associated with good health, Thrive on one or two bowel movements a day.although further studies are needed to confirm this thesis.

According to Gibbons, to achieve this frequency it is necessary:

• Eat fruits and vegetables
• drink a lot of water
• Exercise regularly
• Diet with a predominance of vegetables