This is called slow transit Body composition for women. Two Gut health and constipation papers put commercially contsipation probiotics to the constipatlon. Illness — a period anx illness, particularly Flaxseed for cardiovascular health illness resulting in hospitalisation and bed-rest, typically results in constipation. Independent studies have suggested that microbial metabolites BAs and SCFAs may induce the release of 5-HT from enterochromaffin cells [ 383967 ]. This can happen in case of an earlier presence of a small tear anal fissure or piles haemorrhoids.

Gut health and constipation -

However, growing evidence indicates that age, sex, and hormone levels can affect the composition of intestinal flora Bennett et al. Cross-sectional studies of fecal samples from adult individuals in various age groups suggest that there are age-related changes in gut microbiota composition and diversity.

Longitudinal analyses indicate that the intestinal microbial population of healthy individuals is relatively stable for decades Claesson et al. However, old age is associated with a more diverse and variable gut microbiome Faith et al.

With aging, the equilibrium state between intestinal flora and host worsens and gradually reaches a stage of dysbiosis Kim, ; Riaz Rajoka et al. In addition, some studies have shown an interaction between the microbiome and the endocrine system.

Similarly, host hormones may affect bacterial gene expression and bacterial growth and have consequences on host physiology Rizzetto et al. The sex of the host also influences the gut microbiome and affects disease susceptibility, and these differences are the result of the actions of sex hormones Ma, Importantly, all of these factors known to affect the gut microbiota are also known to influence susceptibility to constipation Houghton et al.

It is conceivable that the large number of gut microbiota residing in the intestinal tract influences intestinal function. Therefore, in this study we examine the overall structure of gut microbiota in constipated women of reproductive age to reduce the effects of age, sex, and hormone levels.

We aim to provide a clearer understanding of the role of the microbiome and to facilitate further research on the relationship between chronic constipation and gut microbiota.

All participants were assessed using defecation related scales and a dietary habits questionnaire. Most of them were recruited from among the female staff of reproductive age of Shanxi Bethune Hospital.

The constipated group needed to meet the Rome IV diagnosis standards of constipation and the normal group had a healthy lifestyle without any symptoms of constipation. All had a normal body mass index BMI , indexes ranging from 18 to All participants voluntarily enrolled and signed informed consent forms.

All the fecal samples were processed on ice, stored in the Eppendorf tubes, and then transferred to a —80°C freezer within 30 min of collection. The study was approved by the ethics committee of Shanxi Bethune Hospital Certificate No. Microbial DNA of the samples was extracted using SDS sodium dodecyl sulfate, SDS method and then purity and concentration of DNA were assessed using agarose gel electrophoresis.

To ensure the efficiency and accuracy of amplification, Phusion high-fidelity PCR Master Mix with GC Buffer from New England Biolabs was used for PCR. According to the concentration of duplicate PCR amplicons, the samples were mixed in equal amounts.

Barcoded amplicons were recovered using gel recovery kits. TruSeq DNA PCR-free Sample Preparation Kit was used to construct the library. The constructed library was quantified using Qubit and q-PCR.

After the library was established, Illumina NovaSeq was used for computer sequencing. There are a certain proportion of dirty data among the raw data obtained from sequencing.

In order to render the results of information analysis more accurate and reliable, the original data were first spliced and filtered to provide clean data. Then chimera filtering was conducted to obtain effective tags for subsequent analysis.

The sequence with the highest frequency of OTUs was selected as the representative sequence of OTUs. The smallest amount of data in the samples was taken as the standard for homogenization of all samples. Based on the homogenized data, the subsequent alpha diversity analysis was performed to find species richness and evenness information.

We used Qiime software version 1. Beta diversity analysis was performed to indicate the relative abundance distribution and significant differences of the gut microbiota between the groups.

Metastats analysis used R software to perform permutation tests among groups under Phylum Class Order Family Species to determine P values. LEfSe software was used for LEfSe analysis, and the default screening value of LDA score was set to 4, which can be used for comparison of two or more groups. It emphasizes statistical significance and biological correlation, and it can be used to identify statistically different biomarkers between groups.

Finally, we used Tax4Fun to predict the functional and metabolic capabilities of microbial communities. Tax4Fun is an open-source R package that predicts the functional or metabolic capabilities of microbial communities based on 16S rRNA datasets.

The function of the microbial communities was predicted by constructing a linear relationship between the SILVA from Latin silva , meaning forest, an improved data processing and web-based tool classification and the KEGG Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes database.

The fecal microbiomes of 29 constipated women of reproductive age and 30 healthy controls were analyzed by 16S rRNA gene sequencing, because one patient with constipation failed to collect stool sample.

The characteristics of different group subjects are summarized in Table 1. There were no significant differences in age, body mass index, alanine transaminase, aspertate aminotransferase, fasting blood glucose, total bilirubin, albumin, total bile acid, cholesterol, triglyceride, high density lipoprotein, and low density lipoprotein of the two groups.

A total of 7,, sequencing reads were obtained from the 59 samples. To assess the alpha diversities of fecal flora in each group, five metrics were calculated: Venn diagrams, rarefaction curve, rank abundance curves, Shannon plots, and Chao1 plots, showing species enrichment and distribution.

According to the OTU results and research requirements obtained by clustering, the common and unique OTUs among the groups were analyzed and displayed in a Venn diagram.

The two groups had 1, common OTUs, and the unique OTUs in the constipated group were lower than in the control group Figure 1A , indicating that the species diversity in the constipated group was reduced.

The rarefaction curve for the healthy group was slightly higher than the constipated group, reflecting the richness in the healthy group. When the curve tended to be flat, it indicates that the sequencing data volume was considered reasonable.

The slope of the rank abundance curve reflects the richness and evenness of the species in the sample. The richness of the species is reflected by the width of the curve.

In the vertical direction, the smoothness of the curve reflects the uniformity of species in the sample. Figure 1 Species richness and diversity of the gut microbiome in two groups.

N refers to the normal group; C refers to the constipated group. A Species richness and evenness based on the Venn diagram. The species richness in the constipated group is lower than that in the healthy group.

B The rarefaction curve can directly reflect the rationality of sequencing data and indirectly reflect the richness of species in two groups. C The rank abundance curve reflects the richness and evenness of the species in two groups. D The Chao1 plot reflects species richness.

E The Shannon plot reflects species diversity. The relative abundance distribution at different levels of the gut microbiome in the two groups summarized in Table 2 , which reflects the dominant flora and their relative proportion. The overall microbial composition at the phylum level in each sample is shown in Figure 2A , and the group data are shown in Figure 2B.

A total of 25 bacterial phyla were detected in the gut microbiome of the two groups, including four fundamental phyla Firmicutes, Bacteroidetes, Proteobacteria, and Actinobacteria , and other minor phyla. Firmicutes was the most prominent phylum, taking up The major families were Lachnospiraceae, Ruminococcaceae, Veillonellaceae, Peptostreptococcaceae, Lactobacillaceae, and Streptococcaceae.

Bacteroidetes was the second major phyla in both groups, with a proportion of Proteobacteria, mostly Enterobacteriaceae, constituted the third most abundant phylum in the healthy control group, with a proportion of Actinobacteria, mainly containing Bifidobacteriaceae, was the fourth most abundant phylum in the healthy control group and the third most abundant phylum in the constipated group 5.

Table 2 The proportion and significant differences in the gut microbiome at different levels in the normal and constipated groups. Figure 2 Relative abundance distribution at different levels of the gut microbiome in two groups. Here we analyze mainly at the level of Phylum, Family, Genus.

A The relative abundance histogram of phyla in each sample. B The predominant phyla in the two groups. C The predominant family in the two groups. D The predominant genera in the two groups. At the family and the genus level, the top 10 most highly abundant bacteria in the healthy control group and constipated women of reproductive age were identifed.

As shown in Figures 2C, D , these was mainly included Lachnospiraceae with a proportion of Principal component analysis indicated a remarkable separation in the fecal microbial composition between constipated women of reproductive age and healthy controls, with the first two principal component scores of PC1 Figure 3 Significant differences in fecal microbiota between constipated women of reproductive age and healthy control subjects.

A Principal component analysis of the two groups. B Box plots of beta diversity. C Comparison of the top 10 phyla. D Comparison of the top 10 families. E Comparison of the top 35 genus. G Phylogenetic distribution of the microbiome of the two groups.

The p values were obtained by hypothesis testing of species abundance data from different levels using the MetaStat method. A p-value of less than 0. The data are shown in Table 2 and are displayed as a heatmap with annotations in Figure 3. No differences were found in the other top 10 phyla of the two groups Figure 3C.

However, there were no significant differences between the two groups for some common bacteria, such as Ruminococcaceae, Peptostreptococcaceae, Veillonellaceae, and Bifidobacteriaceae Figure 3D.

At the genus level, the top 35 most highly abundant bacteria were selected, as shown in Figure 3E. Using linear discriminant analysis coupled with effect size measurements, we confirmed that the phylum Bacteroidetes, the class Bacteroidia, the order Bacteroidales, the family Bacteroidaceae, and the genus Bacteroides were higher in the gut microbiota in constipated women of reproductive age, while the phylum Proteobacteria, the class Gammaproteobacteria, the order Enterobacteriales, the family Enterobacteriaceae, and the genus unidentified Enterobacteriaceae were higher in the gut microbiota in healthy controls Figure 3F.

The phylogenetic distribution of the microbiome of the two groups show a good correlation from phylum to genus level, suggesting that Bacteroides and Proteobacteria may be the crucial players involved in the pathogenesis of chronic constipation in women of reproductive age Figure 3G.

We used Tax4Fun to predict the functional and metabolic capabilities of microbial communities by constructing a linear relationship between the SILVA classification and the KEGG database. In the KEGG pathway annotations, the relative abundance of microbial genes in both groups was high in carbohydrate metabolism, amino acid metabolism, membrane transport of environmental information processing, translation and replication, and repair of genetic information process Figure 4A.

Based on level 3 of KEGG pathway analyses, sphingolipid metabolism, cyanoamino acid metabolism, amino acid metabolism and biotin metabolism, transport, phenylpropanoid biosynthesis, glycosphingolipid biosynthesis, polyketide sugar unit biosynthesis, and various types of N-glycan biosynthesis were more abundance in fecal microbiome of the constipated group.

Figure 4 Functional predictions for the fecal microbiome in constipated women of reproductive age and healthy normal controls. A The relative abundance of gene in the KEGG pathway. In this cross-sectional study, we compared fecal microbiota from constipated women of reproductive age and healthy controls, based on 16S rRNA sequencing to characterize the overall microbial differences.

In contrast to previous studies, which enrolled men and women and a wide range of ages, from 18 to 80 years, we only included women of child-bearing age in our study to reduce the effects of gender, age, and hormone levels.

We find that the ecological diversity and richness in the fecal microbiome in constipated women of reproductive age were similar to those in the healthy control individuals, whereas the differences at all taxonomic levels of the fecal microbiome between the two groups were significant, indicating that constipation is associated with an altered microbiome in the gut.

As a whole, the fecal microbiome of constipated women of reproductive age exhibited an increased level of Bacteroidetes and decreased level of Proteobacteria, which was mostly explained by the increased abundance in the genus Bacteroides and the reduced numbers of Enterobacteriales.

Furthermore, the abundance of some butyrate-producing bacteria was also reduced. The human colon contains a diverse microbial community, which is inhabited by hundreds of distinct species.

Bacteroides are strictly anaerobic, Gram-negative, non-motile, rod-shaped, and non-spore-forming bacteria, and comprises more than 92 species Smith et al. Bacteroides , the predominant genus within the human gut microbiota, usually plays a crucial role in degradation and fermentation of organic matter in the colon and are beneficial symbionts with their hosts Salyers, Beneficial symbiosis requires the bacteria to sense changes in the environment so that they can adapt to alterations in their surroundings.

However, Bacteroides may simply need to turn on certain genes to change from friendly commensal to dangerous threat Wexler, The best support is that Bacteroides also associated with infections, such as colitis and pouchitis Shepherd et al.

Therefore, the increase of Bacteroidetes may also indicate an increase in pathogenic bacteria. What role Bacteroidetes plays in the constipated women of childbearing age requires further research and exploration. Interestingly, we found a significant decrease in the abundance of the phylum Proteobacteria, in which Enterobacteriaceae was reduced.

This result is similar to a previously published study that found that Enterobacteriaceae increased after constipated mice were given irritant laxatives Takayama et al.

The family Enterobacteriaceae includes diarrheal pathogens such as Shigella and Salmonella. Furthermore, Citrobacter rodentium was found to be reduced in our study, and this bacterium belongs to the family Enterobacteriaceae, a close relative of the human diarrheal pathogen enterohemorrhagic and enteropathogenic Escherichia coli Tsai et al.

Despite the fact that these diarrheal pathogens were not detected in our study, we still observed a reduction in E.

coli in the constipated group as determined in the linear discriminant analysis. We assumed that an unclassified genus of the family Enterobacteriaceae might include similar bacteria, the reduction of which is associated with the pathogenesis of constipation.

Consistent with the in vitro motility studies using human colon specimen, E. coli strain Nissle has been reported to promote gastrointestinal motility and muscle cell contractility Bär et al. Additionally, Fusicatenibacter and Roseburia were reduced in constipated women of reproductive age, and these are well-known butyrate-producing bacteria of the Lachnospiraceae family in the Firmicutes phylum.

Butyrate producers are an abundant and phylogenetically diverse group of bacteria that are likely to play an important role in maintaining gut health, primarily through the production of butyrate. Studies have shown that the higher the abundance of butyrate-producing bacteria, the faster the colonic transit as a result of the influence of butyrate on gastrointestinal dynamics Chassard et al.

The butyrate produced by bacteria may accelerate colonic motility by stimulating the release of serotonin or promoting cholinergic pathways Soret et al. A recent study shows that an abundance of butyrate-producing gut bacteria relieves constipation symptoms via short-chain fatty acids production and hormone secretion Zhuang et al.

However, we found no changes in the bacteria of Butyrate-metabolic-capability in the Tax4Fun analysis. This suggests that we need to look at the role of butyric acid-producing bacteria in the future using metabolomics.

The data of functional analysis suggest that the alteration of pathways involved in metabolism, biosynthesis, genetic information process, and environmental information processing is associated with chronic constipation.

The 16S rRNA gene sequencing method has its own disadvantages as it could not identify microorganisms at the species level or the strain level or provide direct data on the crucial changes in the functionality of the microbiota Aßhauer et al. Future studies should include samples from men and women of various ages, ethnic origins, geographical regions, and dietary differences, and apply metagenomics sequencing analysis techniques to explore the changes in the function of gut microbial genes.

Overall, we find evidence for gut microbiota dysbiosis in constipated women of reproductive age by discussing the fecal microbiota compositional shifts in case groups as compared to healthy controls.

The variations may predict the unique interactions between hosts and some certain bacteria, or some specific bacterial metabolic products, which may aid future exploration of the pathogenesis of constipation. Narrowing this study to a small sub-population in order to avoid the influences of age, sex, and hormonal differences had a clear impact on the meaningfulness of the data and made data interpretation more straightforward.

Notably, the taxonomic characters of microorganisms extracted from fecal samples included both the indigenous flora as well as the allochthonous microbiota and thus may not be completely representative of the resident gut microbial population.

Nevertheless, analysis of fecal flora is also a promising method for a rapid screen with the aim of identifying biomarkers associated with chronic constipation, since the collection of fecal samples is noninvasive and no special clinical procedures are required. The limitations of the present study should be considered.

We did not detect structural changes in colonic mucosal flora, nor did we perform shotgun metagenome analysis to understand intestinal flora function. We did not perform metabolomics analyses to explore the pathogenesis of constipation at a molecular level.

Our study preliminarily identified some potential microflora, which still requires further validation based on clinical samples and animal models. Elucidating the differences in the fecal microbiome of female constipated patients of reproductive age may provide the foundation to improve our understanding of the pathogenesis of chronic constipation in specific populations and could support the development of novel therapeutic options aimed at modifying the gut microbiota.

The original contributions presented in the study are publicly available. SRA accession: PRJNA The studies involving human participants were reviewed and approved by the ethics committee of Shanxi Bethune Hospital.

XD coordinated the project and conceived of the study. HL and JC recruited patients and conducted the clinical trials. XR and CY participated in its design and coordination. SL and XB collected clinical samples. Certain medications can cause or contribute to constipation, including.

A person should see a doctor if constipation does not improve following appropriate dietary and lifestyle changes and treatment with over-the-counter medications. Drinking plenty of liquids, getting up and moving, and taking appropriate medication can all help to remedy constipation quickly.

Techniques that may encourage bowel movements include :. A person should consult a medical professional if both dietary and medical treatments do not remedy their constipation to determine what may be causing their reduced bowel movements.

Read this article in Spanish. Constipation develops when stool becomes hard and difficult to pass. Read on to learn about what can cause constipation and how to treat it. There are several different types of constipation.

Learn more about the different types, including their causes, symptoms, and treatments. Unsweetened juices and other drinks can help relieve constipation. Water is essential for hydration, and juices also contain fiber and essential….

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Twenty constipatioon on from the completion of Performance nutrition recipes Human Body composition for women Projectdeciphering heallth significance of the human microbiome genome is the next cknstipation hurdle for Gut health and constipation to climb. Decreasing the time constipatioh takes to sequence the genome has led constipatiin a number constipatiom breakthroughs in constipatioh understanding of the influence of an genetics on constipatin health. It has also made sequencing the genomes of the myriad organisms that make up our microbiomes possible. Microbiome is the term used to describe the collection of microbes, including bacteria, fungi, viruses, and their genes, that live in and on our bodies — for example on our skin, and our gut. The gut microbiome and its dysbiosis an imbalance in bacteria has been linked to a range of conditions, including mental healthheart diseasemenopauseautoimmune diseaseand a variety of gut conditions, including inflammatory bowel disease and constipation. Despite these findings, there have been few breakthroughs that have demonstrated how and if the gut microbiome can be altered in a way that improves health.

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What To Eat When You’re Constipated - Dr. Will Bulsiewicz Live Q\u0026A This factsheet helps to explain the symptoms constipayion constipation and constpation causes them. It constopation help you Gut health and constipation identify Gut health and constipation it Body composition for women a problem Hydration and hydration your doctor hexlth investigate it. The information also highlights what treatments abd available to help reduce symptoms. Constipation is a symptom that can mean different things to different people. The usual meaning is that a person has difficulty or infrequency with opening their bowels. Constipation affects around 1 in 7 otherwise healthy people with young women designated female at birth and older people being two groups most likely to experience constipation. Constipation is a problem for some people who need to take medicines.