Despite the similarities, human beings have individual differences that go beyond physical appearance. The variations even appear in the digestive system: according to a study Published on April 24 in the journal Peerjthe intestines of men and women can have different sizes.
The research found that women tend to have a small intestine that is on average 12 inches longer than men. The size can favor the absorption of nutrients.
“Having a longer small intestine helps extract nutrients from the diet. This finding supports the channeling hypothesis, which suggests that women are better able to survive during periods of stress,” says study co-author Amanda Hale, a biologist at North Carolina State University (NCSU), in the United States.
The study shows that the cecum, the organ found between the large and small intestine, can measure centimeters in one person, while in another, it is the size of a purse of coins. There are also structural differences between more and less healthy people. Individuals who are more careful with their diets have a bowel with a more granular morphology than those who eat poorly, for example.
personal differences
The researchers say that previous studies of gut differences neglected variation between people. “If you’re talking to four different people, chances are they all have different guts, in terms of the relative size of the organs that make up this system,” explains NCSU ecologist Erin McKenney.
The findings can serve as a basis for understanding, for example, why some people have more difficulty absorbing nutrients than others. The study may also help in choosing an adequate feeding strategy for the morphology of each intestine.
The presented thesis may still impact the study of medicine. “It’s particularly important in medical training, because if students are only learning about normal or average anatomy, it means they won’t be familiar with the scope of human variation,” says co-author Roxanne Larsen, a biologist at the University of Minnesota, also in the United States.
animals x humans
In addition to analyzing the digestive organs of 45 people, the study also investigated the system of different species of animals. Apparently, humans stand out for their high variation in intestinal length. The researchers suggest that the variation is explained by our varied menu, since we do not eat a standardized diet.
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