Pooping after every meal? Know the reasons and how to stop it | The Times of India (2024)

Do you get the urge to poop right after every meal? Yes. This is not a healthy habit. If this happens to you regularly, you should immediately put a check on it. For many, this is not just worrisome but also debilitating.

After one eats food, it takes about 6-8 hours for the food to pass through the stomach and intestine. It then goes to the large intestine for further digestion, assimilation and absorption. It is after that the food is egested or removed out of the body.

So, if you think the food you eat gets removed within a few hours, then you are wrong.

The gastrocolic reflex is a physiological reflex that controls the motility of the lower gastrointestinal tract after a meal. The urge to poop after a meal is often called a gastrocolic reflex. In this case a response is triggered in the colons once the food is eaten and it leads to colonic contractions. These colonic contractions following food consumption pushes the digested food in the body toward the rectum for defecation. Often people with irritable bowel syndrome have a higher response to gastrocolic reflex.

Therefore, contrary to what people think, the poop right after food is what was eaten 1-2 days before.

There are various causes that induce gastrocolic reflex in an individual and creates the need to relieve right after eating food. As per experts, the common causes are: food allergies, food intolerance, anxiety, gastritis, chronic inflammatory bowel disease and other underlying medical conditions.

Apart from these, a change in the gut microbiome can also cause this reflex. This can happen because of an infection.

Many research studies have also associated diabetes with this reflex.

Experts also attribute eating spicy food, consuming carbonated beverages, smoking, drinking alcohol, poor dietary habits, less physical activity, certain medications, dairy products as reasons for this unwanted bowel movement.

Usually doctors prescribe medicines like antispasmodics to control gastrocolic reflex. However, in case one wishes to control this without medicines it is possible too. Changes in lifestyle and diet habits can help control this unwanted colonic contraction.

One should be very careful about what they eat. If you are eating more spicy food then put an end to it or if you smoke a lot then cut it off gradually to zero. Enough sleep, and drinking sufficient water is also recommended by health experts.

A healthy balanced diet and regular exercises have proven to cure bowel related issues.