Ever feel bloated, gassy, or just "off" after eating certain foods?
Your body might be trying to tell you something about how it's digesting what you ate. One clue is your whole gut transit time - that's how long it takes for food to travel all the way through your digestive system after you eat it.
Your digestive super highway Your digestive system is like a long twisting highway about 30 feet long!
National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, National Institutes of Health Food enters your mouth, then travels down the esophagus to your stomach. There, stomach acids and muscles start breaking it down into a thick liquid called chyme .
The chyme then heads into the small intestine, which is over 20 feet long ! This is where most nutrient absorption happens. Bile from the liver and enzymes from the pancreas help fully digest proteins, fats, and carbs. Beneficial gut microbes also aid in the digestive process by breaking down some nutrients.
What's left after the nutrients are absorbed is waste, which moves into the large intestine (about 5 feet long) . Here, most of your gut's 100 trillion microorganisms reside . These microbes further break down and ferment indigestible parts of food through microbial digestion . Water is also removed in the large intestine , solidifying the waste.
Finally, the solid waste (your poo!) stores in the rectum until you go to the bathroom.
How to track your whole gut transit time So how long does this whole journey take? That's your whole gut transit time. Doctors can technically measure it by having you swallowing a special marker that is tracked with an x-ray. But you can get a decent estimate of your whole gut transit time at home!
Just eat something with a distinct color like a blue smoothie or muffin . Note the time you ate it, then watch for when your poop turns that same blue color.
The time in between is roughly your gut transit time — how long it takes something you eat or drink to appear out the other side.
What's a healthy whole gut transit time? Most experts consider a transit time of 14-50 hours to be a healthy range for adults. The average is about 28 hours . Some research even suggests a super-quick transit under 24 hours might be ideal for a diverse gut microbiome.
Gut transit time also varies based on your gender, with men generally having faster times than women .
Overall, consistency is key - if your normal is 36 hours, that could be perfectly fine for you. Just watch for major changes that could signal digestive issues. (Using a tool like Throne is a simple way to watch for those changes!)
Whole gut transit time is one metric of many Of course, transit time is just one part of overall gut health.
If you have concerns, it's always best to speak to your doctor. But tracking your transit can give you an interesting window into how your personal digestive system is functioning.
