Constipation is the most common digestive tract motor dysfunction, and the prevalence is two to three times higher in the elderly than in young adults. The prevalence of chronic constipation in adults in China is 4% to 6% and increases with age, with the prevalence reaching 22.5% in people ≥60 years old. Occasional constipation will only cause bloating and discomfort, but long-term constipation will cause dizziness, fatigue, dizziness, insomnia, and even heavy head, shoulder pain, headache, and easy to irritability, poor appetite and a series of other symptoms, and will have a negative impact on the brain and other organs. What are the causes of constipation? Intestinal flora dysbiosis: healthy individuals in the intestinal flora in a certain proportion of the combination of the bacteria, the bacteria are mutually restrictive, interdependent, to maintain a certain number and proportion of the ecological balance, once the internal and external environment changes lead to the destruction of the ecological balance, the intestinal beneficial bacteria are inhibited, the growth of disease-causing bacteria, which causes flora dysbiosis. Beneficial bacteria in the body can produce butyric acid and other short-chain fatty acids to promote intestinal peristalsis, and when the body’s beneficial bacteria due to improper life and dietary habits and inappropriate use of antibiotics after the loss of intestinal peristalsis can be caused by slowing down and thus cause constipation. Drink not enough water, lack of exercise: Nowadays, young people often sit in the office because of work is a day, because they do not like to drink water or busy forget to drink water, coupled with air-conditioned rooms in the air dry, easy to lead to insufficient water in the body, too little activity. Exercise is too little will make the colon peristalsis reduce, feces in the intestinal tract to stay too long, too much water absorption feces become dry and hard, the volume becomes small and difficult to discharge. In addition, the intestinal tract will absorb more water from the feces due to less water supplementation, making the feces dry and hard. Eating too little, too fine: If the diet is too fine, there is little residue after the food is digested, and if you do not eat vegetables and other high-fiber foods, this situation will lead to the colon can not form a sufficient volume of feces, and it is difficult to produce stool every day. Because fiber is not digested by the body, but can absorb water like a sponge to expand, so that the feces will not be too dry, maintaining enough volume to stimulate the intestinal tract to produce stool. However, this is only possible if you also ensure that you drink enough water every day. Decreased bowel movement, poor defecation habits: the process of functional constipation is gradual, may initially occur in the absence of bowel movement, the beginning of the toilet once a day, and then due to changes in lifestyle or other reasons, not every day with the intention to go to the toilet, a few days before going to the toilet, and then over time the body has adapted to the formation of a habit as well. Emotions: work stress, mental factors, etc. disrupt the normal bowel habits, such as in the irritable bowel syndrome constipation, intestinal function state by the mental factors or flora imbalance, more commonly seen in young women. Why can probiotics treat constipation? Current research has found that changes in intestinal flora and metabolites may be an important cause of the pathophysiologic changes in constipation. In animal constipation model studies, it was found that Toll-like receptors are activated in mice treated with antibiotics, leading to decreased acetylcholine secretion in their colon, decreased stool volume and prolonged colonic transit time. In clinical studies, some similar conclusions can be drawn by analyzing the flora of a population with chronic functional constipation. In a comparison of 48 cases of chronic transport constipation and 48 cases of non-chronic transport constipation patients with a non-constipated population, it was found that the number of Clostridium methane-producing bacteria in the intestines of patients with chronic transport constipation was significantly higher, and that metabolites, such as methane, were the highest in patients with chronic transport constipation; however, the Clostridium methane-products and methane-products were only related to colonic transport and were not related to the frequency of defecation or to the consistency of fecal matter. In animal experiments, methane was found to promote small intestinal non-continuous contractile motility and decrease small intestinal transport motility. Probiotics are able to compete with pathogenic bacteria in the intestinal tract thereby reducing their colonization and the inflammatory response they cause, altering the metabolic effects of bile salts, and restoring normal fermentation in the intestinal tract. Commonly used probiotics include Bifidobacterium, Enterococcus and Lactobacillus. Prebiotics are agents that selectively promote the growth and enhance the function of a specific probiotic in the intestine. The fiber component is fermented by the intestinal flora to produce short-chain fatty acids, which have anti-inflammatory and colonic motility effects to relieve the clinical symptoms of constipation. How to choose probiotic preparation? Many people think that drinking yogurt and lactic acid drinks can replenish probiotics. In fact, the number and types of probiotics living in yogurt and drinks are relatively small. The most commonly used probiotics, Lactobacillus bulgaricus and Streptococcus eosinophilus, are often used to regulate the taste of the products, and have little therapeutic effect. Moreover, the survival conditions of probiotics are very strict, leaving the culture environment for 2-4 hours will greatly reduce the number and activity of live bacteria. And from the production of yogurt to the hands of consumers, through the production, logistics, sales of this long period of time, the temperature changes during this period may also destroy the activity of probiotics. So in the wide variety of probiotic products, how can you choose a probiotic for yourself? 1, look at the variety, variety is to determine the quality of probiotics “core weapon”. Good lactobacilli species are more resistant to digestion and decomposition of gastric juice and bile, so that probiotics can reach the intestinal tract and play a role. 2, look at the activity, oral products through the mouth, esophagus, stomach to finally reach the intestinal tract, only to ensure that the probiotics through digestive enzymes, stomach acid and other barriers to remain active to reach the intestinal tract in order to play its role. 3, look at the number of intestinal flora, only a certain number of probiotics can really play a role in adjusting the balance of intestinal flora and promote health. In addition to the above points, the probiotics used by constipated patients of different ages are also different, especially the probiotics used by constipated patients of children should pay more attention to, in 2011, the Ministry of Health formulated the “list of strains of bacteria that can be used in infant food”, which includes: Lactobacillus acidophilus, Bifidobacterium animalis, Bifidobacterium lactis, and Lactobacillus rhamnosus and other probiotic bacteria. While adults and elderly patients with constipation choose a wider range of probiotics, it is best to use probiotic products that suit your needs under the guidance of a professional doctor.