Is It Time to Talk to Patients About Bowel Hygiene?
The concept of bowel hygiene is gaining traction in clinical practice as a way to improve gut health. This approach emphasizes the importance of lifestyle factors, including diet, hydration, and toileting habits, in managing gastrointestinal issues. While not yet scientifically validated, the framework offers a promising guide for healthcare providers to discuss gut health with patients.
- ▪Bowel hygiene focuses on improving gut motility, stool consistency, microbial diversity, and stress resilience.
- ▪The approach includes a gut-friendly diet, adequate hydration, physical activity, and healthy toileting habits.
- ▪Many clinicians already incorporate bowel hygiene concepts into their patient care, emphasizing lifestyle counseling and dietary changes.
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Many people are familiar with, or have adopted, daily oral and sleep hygiene regimens to improve their health. Now the idea of taking a similar approach to gut health, dubbed bowel hygiene by some, is catching on in clinical practice. This concept is gaining momentum as evidence increasingly shows that the microbiome and the mind-gut connection are powerful drivers of functional bowel conditions, Asma Khapra, MD, assistant clinical professor at the University of Virginia School of Medicine, Charlottesville, told Medscape Medical News.A recent review article published in the Indian Journal of Gastroenterology laid out a “Bowel Hygiene Quintet” that aims to improve gut motility, stool consistency, microbial diversity, and stress resilience.
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