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Topics: Health
Joe Harker
There's all sorts of bad advice out there on the internet, and there are some qualified professionals who want to knock this stuff on the head.
By now you probably know that your plops are a gateway to learning about the health of your body.
However, in a video someone claimed that they knew how many times you ought to poo a day and got called out for it by an actual doctor.
It's a good lesson in taking your advice from people who've actually studied medicine and not just believing everything you see or hear on the internet.
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And let's be honest, if you're online and looking up how to tell whether your poo is healthy or not then it's quite likely that something is already wrong with you.
Either that or you've seen some bad advice and are worrying over very little.
Dr Idrees Mughal tackled a video which claimed that you ought to let the bomb bay doors open after each main meal of the day.
That video claimed that someone 'going once a day' was now considered constipated, but the doc wasn't having any of these faecal falsehoods.
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He said: "That info is simply poo and lacks so much nuance it's not even funny.
"Actually the normal transit time and digestive process of food is anywhere from 10 to 73 hours, and it's completely normal for a person to poop anywhere from three times a day to three times per week.
"And actually the colour and consistency of poop is often a better indicator of bowel function and health compared to frequency."
This advice tallies with the expertise provided by gastroenterologist Rudolph Bedford, who has said that it's what comes out of you and not the frequency that really points towards health issues.
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Apparently your turds tell quite the tale when it comes to health, and if they could talk they'd have quite a few things to say.
Thankfully, health experts have developed ways of interpreting the messy messages.
Dr Will Bulsiewicz agreed about the health warnings that come from your rear end, as the size and shape of your poo is what you need to be on the lookout for.
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If, for example, your faecal expulsion is black instead of brown and smells of tar, then that's a sign that you really need to go to the hospital quickly as there's probably blood in it.
Meanwhile, if you're wiping too many times that's going to lead to more problems.
Now that's what you call s**t advice.