What goes in must come out. But when you get stopped up, it can be anything from an inconvenience to a nightmare. Most folks blame constipation on a lack of fibre. But there’s more to it than that, scientists now say…
A group of researchers at Massachusetts General Brigham hospital have revealed a number of new facts about that age old demon, constipation. Some confirm what we already believed. Others come right out of left field…
Not just fibre related
The team wanted to determine how long-term adherence to a certain type of diet influenced the diner’s experience with constipation.
“Chronic constipation affects millions of people and can significantly impact a patient’s quality of life,” said study report senior author Dr. Kyle Staller.
What they did
The researchers availed themselves of the huge databases compiled by the US National Nurses’ Health Study, Nurses’ Health Study II and the Health Professionals Follow-Up Study, which followed participants health histories for decades.
The study data mined evidence showing the effects of long-term consumption of five common diets: the Mediterranean diet, a plant-based diet, a low-carb diet, the so-called Western diet and an in-flammatory diet.
What they found
“Surprisingly, the benefits weren’t explained by fiber alone,” An abstract of the sudy report explains. “Western and inflammatory diets raised constipation risk, while low-carb diets showed minimal im-pact. The research underscores how diet quality influences gut health well beyond traditional advice.
Participants who consistently consumed a Western or inflammatory diet were more likely to develop chronic cons-tipation, while those who followed a low-carb diet did not show a strong effect on constipation risk.
“Our findings suggest that as we age, certain healthy diets may provide benefits to our gut beyond the known cardiovascular benefits,” Staller summed up.
The takeaway
“Our findings suggest a diet rich in vegetables, nuts and healthy fats may help prevent chronic cons-tipation in middle- and older-age adults,” Staller says.
My take
Staller and his group defined chronic constipation as, ‘as symptoms lasting at least 12 weeks within a year’. Rough math indicates an average occurrence rate of constipation of once every 4 days or so.
I think they might have come up with the same general findings if they has based their analysis on an much longer interval.
When old folks get to talking among themselves, they light on some of the darnedest topics. From my own ‘survey’ research on the scourge of constipation, I can tell you, the majority of older folks I know consider getting plugged up once or twice a month ‘chronic’…
~ Maggie J.