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BBC Pidgin of Wednesday, 10 January 2024

Source: BBC

Why your poo-poo no wan flush, wetin e mean about your health

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Di issue of why e be like our poo-poo sometimes dey come to di surface and some times dey sink enta di bottom of toilet don dey solved. And e fit show wetin be di kain bacteria wey dey live for our belle.

Your poo-poo dey float or e dey sink, na di question wey dey one kain wey Nagarajan Kannan dey ask pipo but na wetin don lead di director for Mayo Clinic stem cell and cancer laboratory for Minnesota to im side hustle.

Im main job na to study di cellular and molecular mechanisms wey dey cause breast cancer. But wen im get break Kannan head dey go anoda question: why e be say some of our poo dey float.

Plenti of us don experience am before wen your poop no wan flush and just dey chill on top di toilet bowl like owner. But at oda time before you even flush am sef, e dey under di water.

Kannan believe say di ansa to di poo wahala fit show interesting tins about wetin dey happun inside our belle.

Before dem bin tink say di reason why di poo poo dey float na becos of di fat wey dey follow am comot bodi. But for di early 1970s, some gastroenterologist for di University of Minnesota decide to test am wit plent experiments.

Dem use di poo-poo of 39 voluteers plus dia own join, do plenti plenti tests, dia ansa wey dem find be say no be fat dey cause am, na gas.

But more specifically na di amount of gas for di stool wey different sotay dem fit float on top water or sink to di bottom or day for di middle. If dem compress di gas for di floater, di researcher find out say dem go sink.

Di reason for di difference na too much methane production, na wetin dem conclude. E mean, excessive mess.

And na wia Kannan join di poo gang. As di years dey pass, medical science don show di ogbonge role wey our microbiota dey play for many aspects of our health like obesity to heart diseases.

Kannan suspect say na changes for di body make up of di 100 trillion bacteria, fungi and oda microorganisms wey dey live for our belle weda our poo-poo go sink gidigba or not.

E say, "di majority of wetin dey make poo-poo na food particles wey turn bacterial mass."

To put di theory to test, im and im colleagues for di Mayo Clinic study di poo wey mice dey release for sterile conditions. Dis germ-free rodents no get microbes for dia belle. For di faecal floatation tests wey di team develop, di mice poo just sink immediately inside di water, while like half of di poopoo mice wey get gut microbes float before dem eventually drift down.

Kannan say, "germ-free faeces bin pack sub-microscopic undigested food particles and dey more stony dan di ones wey microbially loaded faeces."

Di team come transfer gut bacteria from di normal mice, give di germ free mice and dem sef go start to release poop wey dey float.

Even wen di mice collect human beings bacteria, di poop too go float.

Kannan and im colleagues also do some broadscale genetic analysis of di bacterial species for di poop from mice wey dem bin get poop wey dey float and find high levels of 10 bacterial species wey dey known to make pesin mess.

Di top of dem na Bacteroides ovatus, wey dey known to cause pipo to mess by say e ferment di carbohydrates for bodi.

Even though, this findings for rats suppose dey treated cautiously, dem neva confam say e get anytin to do wit human "floaters" and "sinkers". Kannan believe say di weight wey our poo-poo get fit indicate changes for di differet communities of bacteria of our guts.

E say, "I think say floater fit turn sinker on antibiotics." But e neva see anyone wey do dis kain study. "To find money for study of faecal floatation no be walk in di park."

Plenti factors like our diets, weda we dey smoke, di stress wey we dey face and di kain medicine we dey take dey affect di make up of di bacteria for our guts. Kannan now wan find out wetin dey casue thouse gas producing bacteria gan gan to prosper.

"Weda you dey inside social event or for deep space journey, you no go like next to pesin wey get belle wey get dis gasogenic microbes and wey dey mess regularly."

Na doti work but pesin gats do am.