This story is part of a series exploring human anatomy and physiology complexities. Each story in this collection showcases discoveries reshaping our understanding of the body's inner workings, ...

A risky but often lifesaving surgery that removes damaged parts of the small intestine can leave patients facing a new threat: serious liver damage with no available treatment. Now, scientists have ...

When it comes to intestines, it sure seems like two are better than one. I asked my friend Franck Carbonero why that is. He’s a microbiologist at Washington State University. He studies the bacteria ...

The gut microbiome is an important ecosystem of microbes that lives in each one of us, and its strength affects our overall health. However, the small intestine is an underappreciated part of the gut ...

The US humorist Christopher Morley once described the human body as “an ingenious assembly of portable plumbing”. He wasn’t wrong: from our cardiovascular and lymphatic systems to our guts and urinary ...

Short bowel syndrome (SBS) affects how well the small intestine absorbs nutrients. Surgery, medications, and nutritional support are all part of a comprehensive treatment plan for this condition. SBS ...

The LDL cholesterol level alone does not indicate whether a person will develop heart disease. Some people absorb cholesterol particularly effectively from the intestine. This may increase the risk of ...