Iced coffee lovers, unite.
Our bodies are home to trillions of different microorganisms. These good bacteria (also known as probiotics) are found in all different parts of your body, including your skin, vaginal microbiome, and yes, even your gut. This is often why probiotic supplements for gut health are so popular, and why, if you’re backed up, probiotics may help you poop.
“Our gut microbiome is likely the most complex system in our body, having the greatest effect on our overall health,” says Tami Best, RDN, CDN, IFNCP, an integrative and functional dietitian with Top Nutrition Coaching.
Probiotics work to break down food and create and absorb nutrients, meaning they can potentially affect how well our bowels move. When our gut microbiome is imbalanced though (i.e., there’s too little probiotics and too much bad bacteria in our gut), it can cause a whole host of digestive symptoms like constipation, bloating, and gas, says Georgia Close, MD, gastroenterologist and medical advisor for Hilma.
If you want to get your bowels back on track, rebalancing your gut microbiome with probiotics may be a good place to start. Here, learn more about how probiotics help you poop, plus how to get more probiotics in the form of nutrient-dense food and supplements.
Do probiotics make you poop?
Probiotics can help ease constipation by increasing the organisms in the gut that help soften stool. They also encourage more movement and contraction of your colon, which helps to move waste along, according to a February 2022 study in Molecules.
“Probiotics tend to decrease the transit time of waste through the colon, which prevents the body from absorbing more fluid from the stool—and this keeps the stool softer, which allows for easier emptying,” says Best.
But not just any probiotic will do the trick. There are many different types of species, and Dr. Close says that Lactobacillus rhamnosus and Bifidobacterium are the main strains that have been shown to imp
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