Significant variation in anatomy of human guts

[Wishful]

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2023/04/230424102934.htm

"New research finds there is significant variation in the anatomy of the human digestive system, with pronounced differences possible between healthy individuals. The finding has implications for understanding the role that the digestive tract's anatomy can play in affecting human health, as well as providing potential insights into medical diagnoses and the microbial ecosystem of the gut."

I find it hard to believe that no one until now noticed that all human digestive tracts were not identical. However, it's good that someone is reminding doctors and researchers that human guts are not simple or identical.

"In another striking example, the researchers found that women tend to have longer small intestines than men."

A possible explanation for the gender difference in ME?

 

[cheeseater]

They actually did a study to confirm that? Wow. What a waste.

 

[Viala]

That would call for measuring small intestines of ME men and comparing it with healthy men. I wonder if high pro estrogenic diet would make a difference in length of small intestines.

 

[Wishful]

They actually did a study to confirm that? Wow. What a waste.

Maybe there wasn't any published data on that, so it was 'low hanging fruit' for collecting citations, which is what's important for scientific careers these days. It isn't a waste if there aren't any published data for gut measurements that you could, for example, compare ME patient's with.

You'd think that with all the visible variations in human bodies and external body parts that we would assume the same for the internals, but there seem to be plenty of situations where people seem to assume that, for example, one diet or microbiome is ideal for all humans. It's not just size, but variations in gut cells, variations in neural connections and responses, etc. A diet including lots of bell peppers and brussels sprouts might be 'optimum' for some aspect of my physical health, but it certainly would not be optimal for my psychological health.