Thoughts on Psyllium Husk (Metamucil) and Stool Quality

[JSee1]

Hello All,

I have a question, but I guess first it is best to provide some background.

I see the gut as our second brain. I treat my gut with great importance in my everyday life to optimize its ability to operate at its fullest potential. I regularly take notice of my daily bowel movements. I have always used the Bristol Stool chart as my metric of good movement versus bad.

I do enjoy taking the occasional serving of psyllium husk (Metamucil). Taking psyllium husk gives me ease of mind knowing I got everything out of my system during my movement.

My question: Does Psyllium Husk (Metamucil) negatively affect the quality of my stool? I ask this because, without psyllium husk, my stool looks very much within the cell of 3 or 4. With psyllium husk, my stool looks all over the place in terms of cells. How valid is the bristol stool chart? Is psyllium husk okay to take in terms of gut health?

 

[Michael Harrop]

Taking psyllium husk gives me ease of mind knowing I got everything out of my system during my movement.

I don't think this is a valid notion.

Does Psyllium Husk (Metamucil) negatively affect the quality of my stool?

It will vary from person to person. Monitor changes to your health symptoms.

How valid is the bristol stool chart?

It's extremely rough/basic. It is not based on much. With humanmicrobes.org I'm still trying to "prove" the best type for FMT, but what is best for an FMT donor may not be the best for every individual. IE: someone with dysbiosis may find symptom relief with diarrhea.

 

[GutBrainAxis]

Michael, what would you say regarding psyllium husk? Is it worth taking? I'm sure there must be lots of scientific papers looking into psyllium husk in terms of its benefits...papers that have large randomized samples.

 

[Michael Harrop]

Anything like that would vary from person to person. You just have to try it and see.