Your Poop Schedule Says a Lot About Your Overall Health, Study Reveals

Research study investigated associations between bowel movement frequency and health, demographic, genetic, and microbial data study published in 2024 in Cell Reports Medicine by researchers at the Institute for Systems Biology.

Participant cohort included 1,425 participants 1,425 generally healthy participants without major kidney or gut disease.

Bowel movement categories participants were classified as constipation, low-normal, high-normal, or diarrhea based on reported frequency participants self-reported bowel movement frequency and were categorized into four groups.

Data collection researchers collected blood plasma, stool samples, and questionnaire data from participants health measurements included blood plasma, stool samples, metabolites, chemistry, genetics, diet, and lifestyle questionnaires.

Healthiest group the cohort reporting one to two bowel movements per day showed the healthiest profiles among participants participants who reported one or two bowel movements per day.