Everything’s not for everyone and the science behind this is astonishing!
In a recent study published in Nature Microbiology titled Gut physiology and environment explain variations in human gut microbiome composition and metabolism, which was conducted by Nicola Procházková, a PhD student and postdoc at the Department of Nutrition, Exercise and Sports, at the University of Copenhagen from 2020-2024.
The study focused on the detailed relationship between gut microbiome and gut environment, that helped how same foods and meals have different effect on each person.
In the study, researchers made 50 individuals ingest capsules approximately equal to the size of thumb during breakfast which then went through the whole digestion process, collecting data on “pH, temperature, and pressure along the way.”
The overall process took 12-72 hours after which the capsule exited the body through feces by which the researchers observed the differences in varied gut environment and transit time from person to person.
“We could see, for example, that it took 2 hours for the capsule to pass through the small intestine in some people and 10 hours in others,” explained Associate Professor Henrik Roager from the Department of Nutrition, Exercise and Sports at the University of Copenhagen, who led the study.
He continued, “Since we already know that we absorb most of our nutrients in the small intestine, differences in the travel time in the small intestine probably have an impact on how much of the nutrients we absorb and how much passes on to the large intestine, where the gut bacteria kick in.”
“The capsule means that we can collect information that may help explain individual differences in digestion, nutrient uptake, and bowel movement patterns,” said Roager. “This provides us with far greater knowledge than we have previously been able to obtain via dietary patterns and stool samples,” the professor concluded.
The results indicate that the physiology and environment of the gut play an important role in the individual differences in the human gut microbiome and metabolism.
