Bowel Transit Time

How It Is Done

Dye test or home test

For the dye test or home test, swallow two gelatin capsules filled with a dye called carmine red (Cochineal) or eat a large helping of seeds, beets, or corn kernels to serve as markers. Look at your next couple of bowel movements and write down how many hours it takes after eating until the markers appear in your stool.

Pellet test

Your doctor will give you small, indigestible pellets to swallow with instructions about when to take the pellets. You may have to take them at a certain time for 2 or 3 days in a row. You will then have X-rays taken of your belly. These are usually done on day 4 and again on day 7. Your doctor will compare how many pellets show up on the first X-ray with the number of pellets that can be seen on the later X-ray pictures and also compare where the pellets show up in each picture. This time it takes for the pellets to show up and how fast they move through your intestines is your bowel transit time.

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Author:	Douglas Dana Sydney Youngerman-Cole, RN, BSN, RNC	Last Updated: July 14, 2006
Medical Review:	Kathleen Romito, MD - Family Medicine Tom Bailey, MD - Family Medicine Peter J. Kahrilas, MD - Gastroenterology Jerome B. Simon, MD, FRCPC, FACP - Gastroenterology
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