Without doing a bowel transit test, you could be unknowingly eliminating something you ate 4 or 5 days ago. Even if you are having a bowel movement every day, you still could be suffering from constipation. Simply consume something that will be easily identified such as: a cup of corn, beets or a few tablespoons sesame seeds, and count the number of hours it takes to appear in your stool.Ī daily bowel movement does not necessarily indicate a healthy colon.
Testing your bowel transit time is fairly easy. A transit time less than 10 hours can mean lack of absorption, which can lead to serious nutritional deficiencies and weakened immunity.
A transit time longer than 2 days can increase the risk of cancer, diverticulosis and candida (overgrowth of unfriendly bacteria), which weakens the immune system and puts one at higher risk for all types of cancer. The ideal bowel transit time is anywhere from 12 to 24 hours. Certain medications and neurological conditions can also affect your transit time. Your bowel transit time is dependent on a few different factors: The type of food you eat, hydration, the amount of fiber in the diet, and exercise. What hasn’t been fully digested and absorbed in the small intestine, combines with bacteria and other waste products and gets eliminated through the colon. The food then moves to the large intestine. From there, it travels through the small intestine, where nutrients are absorbed.
Once food is chewed and swallowed, it moves to the stomach, where it is mixed with stomach acid and digestive enzymes. “Bowel transit time” is the length of time it takes for food to travel through the digestive tract, from mouth to colon. Hippocrates said it best – “All disease begins in the gut”