Advancing human gut microbiota research by considering gut transit time (2023)

Posted by mikhael 1 day ago

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Comments

Comment by flossly 1 day ago

I did quite some experimenting with this.

Fruit moves fastest and green leaves. Meat, cheese, oil and fats slowest.

But we often eat combinations: and the slowest component of your food determines the speed of the whole.

Also: it's a one lane road and "over taking" is not possible.

So, eating a fast moving meal after a slow moving meal results in the fast mover getting stuck behind the slow mover.

Hence I start my day without and slow food (only fruit, herbs, green leaves, spices, ginger => usually a smoothy); and end the day with slow food (oily food, nuts, seeds, beans; usually combined with green leaves as we need a lot green leaves).

YMMV

Comment by mrroryflint 1 day ago

There have been alternative (often mad) health proponents who have insisted upon only eating fruit in the morning for years - similar(ish) reasons. I think there is probably something to it.

Comment by konradb 1 day ago

I remember this being a thing in some Tony Robbins book!

Comment by sublinear 1 day ago

Whole fruit also has a lower glycemic index due to the fiber. This slow release of sugar helps reduce insulin resistance and balance out hormone response in general.

Hormonal imbalance is severely underrated as a root cause of common mental health issues like anxiety, depression, etc.

Having fruit in the morning is a little boost without the guilt. Adding in some light exercise, like walking, also helps prime the day. It even gets easier to wake up early for all this the more regularly it's done. It's one big reinforcement cycle for healthy habits.

Comment by oulipo2 1 day ago

I mean the most obvious reason is fibers

Comment by flossly 1 day ago

For me the most obvious reason is that we are primates and most primates have a fruit heavy diet. So I believe that's a reason for our human bodies to be very well adapted to fruit.

And that's the fibers, vitamins, minerals and sugars... The whole package.

Comment by DANmode 9 hours ago

Yeah, but during what part of the day do they eat it?! ^_^

Comment by gchamonlive 1 day ago

Isn't slow food going through your body during sleep something that'll impact your sleep quality?

When you wake up you are basically fasting so your body is ready to take a hit. Slow food will go through your body faster when you eat it in the first half of your day.

Comment by flossly 1 day ago

I found the same food goes about as fast (on a rather empty GI tract) no matter when eaten.

Slow food takes about 24h for me (so even when eaten early).

Comment by gchamonlive 20 hours ago

I don't think the last 12h impacts sleep quality that heavily though

Comment by x______________ 1 day ago

Interesting.

A great opportunity to add "YMMV"

Comment by Ballas 1 day ago

Your Movements May Vary?

Comment by anonu 1 day ago

YBMMV

Comment by flossly 1 day ago

Did it!

Comment by wantoncl 1 day ago

> Also: it's a one lane road and "over taking" is not possible.

I've eaten some hamburgers at Krystal's that definitely overtook whatever else was in front. Some folks have had the same or similar effect from White Castle, although I never have. Chipotle on occasion moves things along rather briskly too. No fruit or green leaves in any of them.

It may be that it's not a digestion thing, but some other factor they have that accelerates the process.

Comment by Schmerika 22 hours ago

Not a doctor but I know that some foods, in some guts, at some times can trigger a 'quick-release valve' of sorts. You're not digesting properly when that happens.

Comment by _DeadFred_ 20 hours ago

This. Eject != digest

Comment by boring-human 1 day ago

I don't disagree with your findings, but here's the model I use:

- Fiber: ^

- Dairy: v

- Coffee: ^^

- NSAIDs: vv

- Ice cream splurges: vvv

Comment by arethuza 1 day ago

My breakfast routine for ~40 years has been coffee, muesli, coffee, yoghurt, coffee, fresh fruit all served with plenty coffee.

Comment by sillyfluke 22 hours ago

I end up eating a similar breakfast when I visit Swiss/Austrian/Dutch friends in their natural habitat.

Comment by CTDOCodebases 1 day ago

Eating bitter greens can cause the body to secrete more bile and that speeds up fat digestion.

Comment by Bender 1 day ago

I use TUDCA for that though it can make me gassy if I take too much.

Comment by vogelke 1 day ago

> It's a one lane road and "over taking" is not possible.

Best poop-related comment I've seen.

Comment by lordgrenville 1 day ago

n=1

But interesting nonetheless, thanks for sharing your findings.

Comment by flossly 1 day ago

I have a small following of people how also saw improvements doing this.

Then, I did not come up with this myself, but found a lot of anecdotals in this direction.

And... I comment on a real science piece that seems to be making similar claims.

Comment by andsoitis 1 day ago

Have you found that coffee speed things up?

Comment by flossly 1 day ago

I cannot stand the taste coffee. So no data from my side.

Comment by sublinear 1 day ago

I have, but I think any stimulant would do similar. I no longer smoke, but that did it too.

Comment by paul7986 1 day ago

For me i drink close to a gallon of water a day and that truly cleans me out daily.

Comment by calf 1 day ago

Just to be clear I thought the typical advice has been fiber -> protein -> carbs, for blood sugar reasons, you're saying to frontload fiber/carbs & backload proteins for easier digestion? That is interesting, I wonder what studies there are on this.

Comment by flossly 1 day ago

My reason is I dont want the fast moving food to get stuck behind the slow moving food.

Another reason I do it like this: I get no after diner dip from fast moving food. Slow moving food makes me crash a little, and I prefer to experience that in the evenings.

I did also experiments with fruit (and leaves) only diets. No crashes at all. Nice! But I did crave savory, chewy food a lot.

Comment by senectus1 1 day ago

yeah my mileage is i eat fruit and i get cramps and the squirts for the next two days.

as I've gotten older my ability to consume fruit, onions, garlic and most dairy (and coffee :-( ) has been taken away from me. its really a miserable experience for someone that enjoys eating new and interesting things all the time.

Comment by asplake 1 day ago

IANAD, but sounds like IBS or similar, not necessarily age-related, and potentially treatable.

Comment by g8oz 23 hours ago

Look into the low FODMAP diet.

Comment by altmanaltman 1 day ago

What do you mean, the human stomach is absolutely not a "one line road", your comments lacks the basic biological understanding. What you're describing is a good generic diet and maybe that's why it feels good but please learn a bit more about the stuff you are expetimenting on.

Comment by flossly 1 day ago

I did not mention stomach. I meant the GI-tract as a whole.

I've used food coloring and indigestibles (like corn kernels) to do experiments on whether meals can "overtake" or "merge" or "join" with other meals into poops.

Comment by aziaziazi 18 hours ago

I'd love to read more about your experiments, please don't refrain from writing about it someday.

Comment by jahller 1 day ago

that's the most insane thing i read today. kudos to your curiosity

Comment by andrewf 1 day ago

Then you'll love https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/jpc.14309

"Six paediatric health-care professionals were recruited to swallow a Lego head."

Comment by red-iron-pine 1 day ago

omg this article is wild lol

> To standardise bowel habit between participants, we developed a Stool Hardness and Transit (SHAT) score to look at stool consistency over time. The SHAT score is the sum of the Bristol Stool Chart scores over a specific time period divided by that time period in days.

> Post-ingestion, stools were monitored and examined in search of the excreted item. The search was conducted on an individual basis, and search technique was decided by the participant. The primary outcome was the Found and Retrieved Time (FART) score.

Comment by flyinglizard 1 day ago

Adding debug prints to your diet.

Comment by altmanaltman 1 day ago

Food coloring is a liquid dye. It will mix with whatever chyme it encounters in the stomach and small intestine, dyeing a large portion of the stool. It does not prove that food stayed in a single-file line.

Also, again the GI-tract as a whole is also not a "one-lane road".

Please educate yourself and do not do "experiments" on yourself. A good place to start learning more would be: https://accessmedicine.mhmedical.com/book.aspx?bookid=691 if you're intrested.

Comment by IAmBroom 1 day ago

You are very judgey and controlling. Maybe some prune juice would help?

Comment by SideburnsOfDoom 1 day ago

I will add an anecdote that from observation, two people on the same diet over long periods can have significantly different poop frequencies, and differing regularity.

YMMV. It's not just determined by the food intakes, there are individual factors.

At a guess, these individual factors start with 1) genetic component to reactions to substances such as lactose and to caffeine. 2) Gut microbiome.

In other words, saying "change diet and you can change the poop schedule" is true, but "with this diet you will definitely get this schedule" is not.

Comment by alpineman 1 day ago

Or just don't eat meat and cheese at all

Comment by flossly 1 day ago

I've not for the last 12 years. But fake meats/dairies have a very similar macro profile, so I expect them to digest similarly.

I'll not try though, as I'm vegan for ethical reasons.

Comment by mcv 1 day ago

Better for the environment too.

Comment by flyinglizard 1 day ago

The best thing for the environment is dying. You stop wasting resources and start fertilizing the soil.

Comment by danielbln 1 day ago

Only a Sith deals in absolutes.

Comment by mplanchard 1 day ago

The article is open access, I don’t see any reason to prefer the dumbed-down narrative summary: https://gut.bmj.com/content/72/1/180

Comment by dustractor 1 day ago

This is why I suspect that GLP-1 agonist medications have the potential to cause a cascade of negative consequences for the health of some people. One of the mechanisms is slowed gastric emptying which leads to decreased motility of the small intestine as a side effect. They do tell people to drink more water to counteract this. It just seems like trading one set of problems for another so hopefully doctor and patient will carefully weigh the benefits versus the risks. We shall see.

Comment by the_real_cher 1 day ago

I got food poisoning on a GLP-1 and the slowed gastric emptying made it a hellish 5 days.

Comment by sph 1 day ago

I guess with my IBS I should be the healthiest person around.

Comment by adt 1 day ago

Akshually, IBS-D is the least common form of IBS.

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3865067/

Comment by fibermaxxx 1 day ago

More fiber, more plants. I know individuals that eat "only vegetable on the burger" Oats, grits, or smoothie for early day Mine:Fruit smoothie with oats Starches, leafy greens, for midday Mine:roasted sweet potato on a salad Legumes and tree nuts for dinna Mine:Chickpea sauce over roasted veggies with pasta, or cashews.

The goal is more than 13 plants a day and your movement will be very consistent

Comment by jonatron 1 day ago

I'm surprised there's no mention of hot drinks in the morning.

Comment by iszomer 1 day ago

Consumption of dairy and products are a relatively fast and painful solution for personal system purges within 30m but entirely depends on how processed they are.

Comment by DaedalusII 1 day ago

you may evaluate the concept of a milk enema, dramatic and rapid defecation ensues in comparison to a saline enema

Comment by iszomer 17 hours ago

At that point it’s less of an ‘enema’ and more like udder chaos.

Comment by cess11 1 day ago

https://gut.bmj.com/content/72/1/180

The study. It basically says that this is something one perhaps should consider in clinical settings and that the speed of fecal matter might be a worthwhile direction for future inquiry.

"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."

It does not say 'this is a sign of health and that is not'.

Comment by deepsun 1 day ago

"Linked" not "caused". So it may be that someone with Parkinson's just happen to have slower rates.

Comment by Qem 1 day ago

I wonder if this explains in part the purported health benefits from cofee. One thing people claim makes hard to quit cofee habit it's that they can't take a shit in the morning anymore.

Comment by devolving-dev 1 day ago

I wonder what this means for GLP 1 drugs that slow digestion.

Comment by andreareina 1 day ago

Actual outcome data shows that they're a net benefit, and it's not even close.

Comment by 1 day ago

Comment by hhh 1 day ago

And if I flip flop between both?

Comment by nacozarina 1 day ago

stress-induced

nobody dumps during their first two days of boot camp

Comment by phyzix5761 1 day ago

I wonder how Ozempic affects this because it slows down gastric emptying.

Comment by 1 day ago

Comment by beardyw 1 day ago

If the writer ingested a lot, very little came out.

Comment by fellowniusmonk 23 hours ago

I've been using 1/4cup ground hulled barley and 20-32oz of greek yogurt, with a bit of craisins and pecans as my base for the last several years, my gut now chews through everything and output is consistent and homogeneous.

You gotta lay down a fermentation base.

Comment by pawelduda 1 day ago

Sooo.... Another reason to drink coffee/yerba mate? Although the latter also supposedly stimulates release of GLP1, which slows down "the release"

Comment by feverzsj 1 day ago

Eat lots of fibers and water, and you'll poop like a cow.

Comment by iammjm 1 day ago

... Would that be good? I mean that soft flat pancake thing they produce. My general approach so far was to aim fora not too soft, not too hard kind of poop. Like a one that slides out of you with minimal wiping needed afterward. Like what would be the gold standard for poop consistency?

Comment by Grp1 1 day ago

this post needs an enema

Comment by bregma 1 day ago

I find I can't keep it down for more than a few minutes. I guess I can eat all the poop I want and stay healthy then?

Comment by sans_souse 1 day ago

[flagged]

Comment by delis-thumbs-7e 1 day ago

In that case you really should go and see a doctor ASAP.

Comment by fny 1 day ago

Headline is megaclickbait. The research is about how healthier gut microbiomes correlate with improved pooping and nothing about how it impacts your health.

Comment by mplanchard 1 day ago

From the article’s “key takeaways”:

> By considering interindividual and intraindividual differences in transit time in human studies, diet–microbiota interactions and disease-related microbiome signatures may be better elucidated.

There is also an entire section entitled “The role of gut transit time in health and disease”

Comment by fny 1 day ago

None of this is summarized in the posted article. It's in the research paper which I didn't read because the article seemed like fluff.

Comment by mplanchard 18 hours ago

Seems presumptuous to make assertions about what’s in the research if you haven’t read it