The Hidden Costs of Constipation: Why It’s More Than Discomfort, and Natural Solutions
Constipation and Metabolic Chaos
In all life stages, constipation contributes to Metabolic Chaos by compromising detoxification and elimination pathways. Reabsorbed toxins increase systemic inflammation and place extra stress on the liver and immune system. This toxic burden can disrupt hormone regulation, impair energy production, and trigger neuroinflammation. Poor nutrient absorption, a hallmark of constipation, further compounds these issues by depriving cells of vital building blocks for repair and energy.
In children, constipation is associated with more than digestive discomfort. Chronic constipation can lead to fear of painful BMs and withholding, and behavioral problems. Research shows chronic constipation is associated with cognitive decline, autism, ADD/ADHD, depression, anxiety, and a variety of metabolic disorders. These risks clearly show us that constipation should be taken seriously, and thankfully there are many natural tools you can incorporate into your daily routine.
My 3-Step Method for Healing Constipation
Step 1: Functional Labs and Symptom Surveys
A cornerstone of my approach involves thorough functional lab testing, such as the GI-MAP stool test by Diagnostic Solutions Laboratory. This test identifies gut imbalances contributing to constipation, including:
Pathogens: Bacteria, parasites, viruses, and worms.
Dysbiosis: Overgrowth or depletion of beneficial bacteria.
Opportunistic Overgrowth: Candida and other fungi.
Inflammation and Digestive Markers: Indicators of leaky gut, immune activation, or poor digestion.
The GI-MAP is unique because it uses qPCR technology to detect microbial DNA with high sensitivity and specificity, even for low-abundance pathogens. It also evaluates calprotectin (inflammation), secretory IgA (immune function), and other markers like elastase-1 to assess pancreatic health. This comprehensive insight helps tailor recommendations to the root causes of constipation and broader gut dysfunction. For more detailed information, visit the Diagnostic Solutions Laboratory website.
Step 2: Personalized Education and Recommendations
Using the test results and your health history, I provide a detailed analysis to help you understand how your body is functioning. This involves:
Identifying what’s working well and what needs support.
Explaining how issues like gut imbalances or inflammation are linked to your symptoms.
Offering natural strategies to address these issues, such as dietary adjustments, targeted supplementation, and lifestyle changes.
I can give even more specific diet, lifestyle, and supplement recommendations based on results. This step empowers you to take control of your healing with actionable insights grounded in evidence.
Step 3: Ongoing Support and Customized Programs
Healing isn’t a one-size-fits-all journey. I work closely with you throughout the process, offering:
Regular Sessions: Programs range from 3-15 months, ensuring consistent support and flexibility.
Real-Time Adjustments: As you implement changes, we fine-tune recommendations based on progress or family-specific needs, such as managing Down syndrome or autism.
Programs include:
JumpStart (8 sessions): A 3-6 month plan for quick wins.
Intensive (12 sessions): A deeper 6-9 month commitment for lasting change.
Total Transformation (16 sessions): A comprehensive year-long program for profound health shifts.
Keep reading to learn the deeper truths behind constipation, the health risks it brings with it, the natural steps you can take to address is, and find a free resource plan on Fullscript!
Why It’s More Than Discomfort
Constipation might seem like a minor inconvenience, but its effects can ripple through the body, posing both immediate and long-term health risks. Chronic constipation can lead to hemorrhoids and anal fissures due to straining. Fecal impaction, where hardened stool gets lodged in the colon, may require medical intervention. Over time, constipation can contribute to rectal prolapse, where rectal tissues slip out of place. Additionally, untreated constipation may exacerbate systemic issues, such as cardiovascular strain and digestive disorders (Mayo Clinic).
From a Functional Diagnostic Nutrition (FDN) perspective, constipation isn’t just a localized issue—it disrupts systemic health. When waste elimination slows, toxins that should exit the body are reabsorbed into the bloodstream, increasing the toxic burden. This triggers inflammation and disrupts key biological processes, including hormone regulation, neurotransmitter production, and energy production. Constipation also burdens the liver's detoxification pathways, amplifying stress on the body. The resulting neuroinflammation, poor gut-brain communication, and reduced nutrient absorption create a cascade of health challenges that can go undetected yet significantly impact overall well-being.
Physiology of Constipation
Constipation involves several physiological factors working in harmony to produce healthy bowel movements. When any of these factors are disrupted, it can lead to constipation. Here's an overview of the five key factors:
Motility: Proper gut motility, primarily regulated by the central and enteric nervous systems, ensures rhythmic peristalsis to move waste through the digestive tract. Dysfunction in these systems—due to stress, neurological disorders, or metabolic imbalances—can reduce motility and cause constipation.
Hydration: Adequate water and electrolyte levels are vital for softening stool and promoting smooth passage through the intestines. Dehydration or an imbalance in electrolytes like potassium and magnesium often contributes to harder stools and difficulty in elimination.
Bulk (Fiber Intake): Fiber provides stool bulk and stimulates intestinal movement. Insoluble fibers add mass, while soluble fibers like those found in fruits and legumes absorb water to keep stools soft. Insufficient fiber intake can hinder bowel regularity.
Microbiome Health: The gut microbiome produces short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) that promote motility and mucosal health. Dysbiosis, an imbalance in gut microbes, is linked to slower transit times and reduced motility, exacerbating constipation.
Mucosal Barrier Integrity: A healthy mucosal barrier prevents toxins from entering the bloodstream and supports smooth bowel movements. Damage to this barrier, as seen in "leaky gut" or inflammation, often leads to digestive dysfunction, including constipation.
Ideal Bowel Movement Frequency for Different Ages
Infants: Breastfed babies may have bowel movements after every feeding or as infrequently as once every 4-7 days, depending on the efficiency of nutrient absorption. However, most breastfed babies should have 3 BMs per day for the first 6 months, though some will have 4-12 BMs per day. Formula-fed babies tend to have more regular patterns, typically one to three times per day.
Children: Ideally, children should have one to two bowel movements daily. This reflects a balanced diet and proper hydration, which are essential for healthy digestion.
Adults: In ancestral traditions, one bowel movement daily is considered the minimum for a healthy digestive system. TCM often emphasizes two movements per day as optimal, aligning with meals and ensuring proper elimination of toxins.
Insights from TCM and Ayurveda
TCM Perspective: TCM links bowel health to organ function and energy flow. For adults, passing stools once or twice daily is considered balanced. A lack of regularity can indicate imbalances such as yang deficiency (cold abdomen, hard stools) or stagnation of qi (bloating and incomplete evacuation). Techniques like acupoint massage (e.g., Tianshu and Zusanli), Gua Sha, and dietary adjustments (fiber-rich foods, warm liquids) support regularity.
Ayurvedic Perspective: Ayurveda ties digestion and elimination to "Agni" (digestive fire). Proper Agni results in one to two bowel movements per day. Signs of imbalance include incomplete evacuation or irregular patterns. Recommendations include consuming warm, moist foods, spices like ginger to stimulate digestion, and establishing a regular bathroom routine.
Constipation Across Life Stages
Babies: Building a Gut Foundation
A baby’s gut microbiome begins shaping long before birth, heavily influenced by the mother’s microbiome during pregnancy. Factors like maternal diet, antibiotic use, and stress can alter the diversity and health of gut microbes. For instance, a diet rich in fiber fosters beneficial short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs), which influence immune development and reduce inflammation in the fetus. Conversely, disrupted maternal microbiota can lead to long-term issues in the baby, such as increased inflammation and metabolic challenges.
The mode of delivery also plays a pivotal role. Vaginally delivered infants inherit microbiota resembling their mother's gut, aiding robust immune and metabolic development. Cesarean births, however, expose babies to microbes from the skin and hospital environment, potentially leading to less diverse gut flora and higher susceptibility to conditions like asthma and obesity later in life.
Feeding methods further shape the microbiome. Breastfeeding introduces a rich diversity of beneficial bacteria and oligosaccharides that support gut health, while formula-fed infants often experience less microbial diversity, which may contribute to constipation and reduced gut barrier integrity. The suckling reflex stimulates the gastrocolic reflex, linking feeding to bowel movements. While breastfed babies may skip daily stools due to high milk digestibility, regular bowel movements still signify healthy gut function.
Lastly, the process of introducing solids impacts every key factor involved in healthy bowel movements and constipation. From the age of introduction to which foods are introduced first, every variable impacts gut health.
Children: Picky Eating and Antibiotic Impacts
As children grow, hydration and diet become critical. Limited water intake and diets low in fiber can slow bowel movements. Picky eating exacerbates this, as many "kid-friendly" diets are rich in processed foods and low in nutrients that promote gut health.
Antibiotic use disrupts the gut microbiome, often leading to temporary or chronic constipation. Research shows that early antibiotic exposure can lower beneficial bacterial populations, increasing risks for obesity, asthma, and food allergies.
Additionally, gut health issues in children are associated with neurodevelopmental delays and chronic diseases, highlighting the systemic importance of a balanced microbiome.
Adults: Chronic Stress and Medication
For adults, poor diet, sedentary lifestyles, and chronic stress are key contributors to constipation. Stress elevates cortisol, which can reduce gut motility and disrupt the microbiome. Medications, including opioids, antidepressants, and antacids, are also common culprits, slowing digestive processes and altering gut flora.
Additional factors include hormonal changes (e.g., pregnancy or menopause) and lifestyle habits like ignoring the urge to defecate, which can lead to a "lazy bowel." Environmental toxins and poor liver detoxification exacerbate these issues, increasing the toxic burden on the body.
Natural Solutions for Constipation
Solutions for Babies
Chiropractic Care: Birth itself can stress a baby's spine and nervous system, potentially affecting digestion. Gentle chiropractic adjustments can optimize nervous system function, supporting motility.
Gentle Anal Stimulation and Glycerin Suppositories: Safe, gentle techniques like these can help trigger the rectal reflex in babies, aiding bowel movements.
Probiotics: Strains like Bifidobacterium infantis improve infant gut microbiota, reduce inflammation, and enhance digestion. Other beneficial strains include Lactobacillus rhamnosus for its role in reducing colic and Bifidobacterium breve for preventing gut inflammation.
Digestive Enzymes: These can be helpful for formula-fed infants or those with Down syndrome who may struggle with digestion due to reduced enzymatic activity.
Introducing Solids: I recommend a common sense approach that honors ancestral wisdom. Rather than introducing solids based on the calendar age of the child, introduce them according to the child’s natural expressed interest in foods. This age may vary natural between 5-9 months. Nutrient dense foods like eggs, meat, and vegetables make great first foods for babies. Avoid fortified grains and instead introduce a variety of flavors and colors and textures to promote a healthy microbiome and relationship with food (ward off that picky eating from the start). Check out Weston A. Price and Baby Led Weaning resources for more specific tips.
Introducing Water: Introducing solids should always be accompanied by offering and encouraging water. If you struggle with your baby wanting to drink water, make sure they see you doing it, and offer a sip from your own cup. Just like the car keys and tv remote they prefer to play with over the toys you bought them, the water in your cup is infinitely more cool than the water in their cup.
Solutions for Children and Adults
Chiropractic Care: Regular adjustments can help optimize the nervous system and motility across all ages.
Motility Supports: Natural stimulants like senna in tea or capsule form and castor oil packs improve peristalsis. Magnesium (citrate, carbonate, or oxide) and Vitamin C act as osmotic laxatives, drawing water into the intestines to ease bowel movements.
Down syndrome note: I do not recommend giving magnesium citrate to people with Down syndrome, as it can further disrupt their citric acid cycle, leading to reduced energy production via negative feedback loop, increased fat deposition, and metabolic disorders.
Hydrating and Fiber-Rich Foods: Fruits like watermelon, blueberries, and vegetables such as cucumbers with added salt improve hydration and bulk. Flaxseeds and chia seeds are excellent sources of fiber and omega-3s for gut health. Let your kid eat as much watermelon or blueberries in one sitting as they want, it’s a good use of resources when it comes to addressing constipation naturally.
Probiotics: Products like ProFlora4R, MegaSpore, and PrebioMed contain strains shown to improve digestion, reduce inflammation, and support microbiome diversity.
Mucosal Barrier Supports: Nutrients like collagen, MSM, biotin, glutamine, and bone broth nourish the gut lining. These help repair leaky gut, reducing systemic inflammation and promoting smoother digestion.
Stress Reduction: Emotional stress alone is enough to cause leaky gut, which can cascade into constipation, so take reducing your stress seriously. Create a healthy “stress filter” that eliminates all forms of stress (thoughts, traumas, and toxins), as well as habits that help you process and release the stress that gets past your filter.
Conclusion
Constipation might feel like just a nuisance, but as we’ve explored, its effects ripple through every system in the body, contributing to broader dysfunction and Metabolic Chaos. Addressing this issue holistically—from diet and hydration to gut health and nervous system support—can restore balance and help you thrive.
If you're ready to tackle constipation at its root cause, I invite you to schedule a free discovery call and learn how personalized care through my programs can support your journey to optimal health. Visit my Fullscript Constipation Resources Plan for curated supplement recommendations to get started on natural solutions today.
Together, let’s create a plan that not only improves your digestion but also transforms your overall health and vitality.
