Bowel Transit Time

• Bowel transit time also can be done using a dye capsule. You swallow a capsule containing a bright red dye and measure the amount of time until you see the red color appear in your stool. You may also measure the time needed for all of the dye to pass through your colon.
• Many doctors do not think that bowel transit time testing is useful. Different people have different bowel transit times on different days.
• This test is not recommended if you are or might be pregnant.
• You can usually speed up bowel transit time if you increase the amount of fruits, vegetables, and whole grains that you eat each day. For more information, see the topic Reference Healthy Eating.
• It is possible to have a daily bowel movement but still have a slow bowel transit time.

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