What the Color and Consistency of Your Poop Says About You

While talking about your poop may feel like a taboo topic, here’s the thing — we all do it. In fact, your bowel movements can give you great insight into your digestive health. Jess Bailey, ARNP, and Kendra Ulicki, ARNP, UnityPoint Health, explain how the color and consistency of your stool can give you clues about what’s happening in your gut.

Bowel Movement Basics

Bowel movements occur at the very end of the digestive process and are one of the best indicators of whether your body is correctly digesting food.

What Does My Stool Color Mean?

Stool colors reflect how fast the stool passed through the intestines, what foods, medications or nutrients you recently consumed and the general gut health of your digestive system.

Light to Dark Brown Poop

Poop is normally brown and mimics the color of a milk chocolate bar. Bowel movements achieve this color through a complicated process. A pigment, called bilirubin, is created when a protein, called hemoglobin, breaks down in the liver. From there, bilirubin enters the intestines, and if a healthy digestive system allows it to travel through the intestines at a normal speed, it achieves the typical brown color of poop.

Green Poop

Green poop is more common than you might think and can be caused by a few different things. Bile, which is created in the liver and stored in the gallbladder, is naturally green. It’s present alongside stool in the intestines. If poop moves through the intestines too fast, the bilirubin and iron don’t have enough time to mix and complete the process of turning your stool brown.

Other reasons for green poop: Outside of moving through your gut too quickly, green poop can be caused by iron supplements, eating a lot of dark leafy greens, like spinach, antibiotics and other medications, having too many foods with green-colored dye, bacterial or viral infections and gastrointestinal disorders like Chron’s or celiac disease.

Black Poop

Black stool can mean there’s dried blood present in your poop, and internal bleeding occurred somewhere in the upper gastrointestinal tract — far enough away from the rectum that the blood had time to dry. Call your doctor if you notice you have black stool. This can be a sign of a serious digestive problem.

Other reasons for black poop: Iron supplements can cause black poop as well as eating a lot of black-colored food or consuming bismuth subsalicylate, an ingredient found in Pepto Bismol.

Yellow Poop

Poop can be yellow when fat isn’t absorbed from the stool. Fat absorption can be disrupted by parasites, illnesses or congenital diseases causing inflammation in the pancreas. Yellow poop is usually a sign of a medical problem that needs attention. If your yellow stool is present for more than two days, contact your doctor.

Yellowish, brown-colored stool, or pale poop, can sometimes be confused for yellow poop. The difference is subtle but noticeable. Yellowish brown-colored or pale stool has more of a gray tint and is less slimy.

Other reasons for yellow poop: Iron supplements can cause black poop as well as eating a lot of black-colored food or consuming bismuth subsalicylate, an ingredient found in Pepto Bismol.

Pale White Poop

Pale poop can look white, gray or like the color of clay. Pale poop is present when the liver doesn’t release enough bile salts into the stool in your intestines. This may occur due to bile duct blockages, gallstones or liver problems. Pale gray stool is usually a sign of a more serious problem. If your stool remains either of these colors for two days, contact your doctor.

Red Poop

Bright red poop is usually a sign of bleeding in the lower intestine. While the most common cause of red poop is hemorrhoids, it can also indicate inflammatory bowel disease, diverticulitis, polyps or an infection in the intestines. Contact your doctor if you have blood in your stool.

Other reasons for red poop: Food with red coloring, like fruit punch or Jell-O, can also temporarily add a tinge of red to stool.

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What Does the Shape and Consistency of My Stool Say?

Similar to what determines stool color, the consistency and shape of stool can be influenced by diet, fluids, medications, exercise and how much time poop spent in the intestines.

Hard Poop – Type 1

Hard poop happens when you’re constipated. It’s passed in separate, hard lumps, similar to pebbles. Hard poop likely sat in the large intestine for a while. During an extended stay in the colon, water and nutrients are removed from the stool, causing it to harden and break apart into pebbles. This type of stool also lacks the healthy bacteria found in poop that’s housed in the colon. Since the bacteria is missing, there’s nothing to retain water, which makes poop soft.

Firm Poop – Type 2

Firm poop that’s connected and lumpy is another sign of constipation. This type of stool spent too much time drying in the intestines but didn’t dry enough to break into small pieces.

Type two poop often hurts the most when passed since it’s usually large and firm. In order for the stool to take this lumpy, sausage-shaped form, it needs to have been in the colon for a few weeks.

Cracked Poop – Type 3

Stool that’s shaped like a sausage with cracks on the surface is typical of a poor diet or sitting too much. A form of poop most often seen with organic constipation (constipation caused by lifestyle or diet), cracked stool has been in the bowels for about a week before passing.

Healthy Poop – Type 4

Healthy poop is shaped like a sausage, about the width of a banana and between four to eight inches long. It remains intact when flushed and has the right amount of water and nutrients when passed. It resembles soft-serve ice cream. Having normal, healthy bowels means pooping every one to three days, too.

Soft Blob Poop – Type 5

When stool passes in the form of soft blobs with defined edges, it’s slightly loose. It’s common for people who have bowel movements two to three times a day. This type of bowel movement usually follows major meals. Soft, blob-shaped poop quickly passes without any strain or effort.

Mushy Poop – Type 6

Mushy stool with fluffy pieces that have a pudding-shaped consistency is an early stage of diarrhea. This form of stool has passed through the colon quickly due to stress or a dramatic change in diet or activity level. When mushy stool occurs, it’s hard to control the urge or timing of the bowel movement.

When the body is under stress or not used to a healthy diet and lifestyle, it can push poop through the intestines faster than intended. If the stool doesn’t spend enough time in the intestines, it hasn’t undergone normal processes, meaning, it still has water and nutrients that haven’t been extracted from the body yet.

Liquid Poop – Type 7

Liquid poop is an advanced stage of diarrhea. It has no solid form and passes without control. Diarrhea occurs when the small intestine is irritated, forcing liquid into the intestine to flush out of the body without being properly processed. Liquid can be absorbed by the large intestine, too, but most pools in the rectum, causing explosive diarrhea.

Concerned About the Color or Consistency of Your Poop?

It’s normal to feel uncomfortable or embarrassed when your bowel movements are out of whack, but the exam room is a safe space. It’s important to let your doctor know if you suspect a problem with your digestive health. You can call or schedule an appointment through our patient app, MyUniytPoint.

Stools – pale or clay-colored Information | Mount Sinai

Stools that are pale, clay, or putty-colored may be due to problems in the biliary system. The biliary system is the drainage system of the gallbladder, liver, and pancreas.

Food passes from the stomach into the small intestine. In the small intestine all nutrient absorption occurs. Whatever has not been absorbed by the small intestine passes into the colon. In the colon most of the water is absorbed from the food residue. The residue is then eliminated from the body as feces.

Considerations

The liver releases bile salts into the stool, giving it a normal brown color. You may have clay-colored stools if you have a liver infection that reduces bile production, or if the flow of bile out of the liver is blocked.

Yellow skin (jaundice) often occurs with clay-colored stools. This may be due to the buildup of bile chemicals in the body.

Causes

Possible causes for clay-colored stools include:

• Alcoholic hepatitis
• Biliary cirrhosis
• Cancer or noncancerous (benign) tumors of the liver, biliary system, or pancreas
• Cysts of the bile ducts
• Gallstones
• Some medicines
• Narrowing of the bile ducts (biliary strictures)
• Sclerosing cholangitis
• Structural problems in the biliary system that are present from birth (congenital)
• Viral hepatitis

There may be other causes not listed here.

When to Contact a Medical Professional

Contact your health care provider if your stools are not the normal brown color for several days.

What to Expect at Your Office Visit

The provider will perform a physical exam. They will ask questions about your medical history and symptoms. Questions may include:

• When did the symptom first occur?
• Is every stool discolored?
• What medicines do you take?
• What other symptoms do you have?

Tests that may be done include:

• Blood tests, including tests to check liver function and for viruses that might affect the liver
• Endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP)
• Imaging studies, such as an abdominal ultrasound, CT scan, or MRI of liver and bile ducts

Korenblat KM, Berk PD. Approach to the patient with jaundice or abnormal liver tests. In: Goldman L, Schafer AI, eds. Goldman-Cecil Medicine. 26th ed. Philadelphia, PA: Elsevier; 2020:chap 138.

Lidofsky SD. Jaundice. In: Feldman M, Friedman LS, Brandt LJ, eds. Sleisenger and Fordtran’s Gastrointestinal and Liver Disease. 11th ed. Philadelphia, PA: Elsevier; 2021:chap 21.

Marks RA, Saxena R. Liver diseases of childhood. In: Saxena R, ed. Practical Hepatic Pathology: A Diagnostic Approach. 2nd ed. Philadelphia, PA: Elsevier; 2018:chap 5.

Last reviewed on: 7/30/2022

Reviewed by: Michael M. Phillips, MD, Emeritus Professor of Medicine, The George Washington University School of Medicine, Washington, DC. Also reviewed by David C. Dugdale, MD, Medical Director, Brenda Conaway, Editorial Director, and the A.D.A.M. Editorial team.

Is it possible to determine bowel disease by feces?

During an appointment with a gastroenterologist, many patients avert their eyes to the question: “How long have you been paying attention to the result of the work of the gastrointestinal tract?” It’s not embarrassing!

In our opinion it is much sadder if you have never looked at your feces. Such observations are a very important method of self-diagnosis and diagnostics in general. It is periodic observation that is dominant, and not one single look at the stool in the morning before a visit to the doctor.

A change in stool parameters is one of the main symptoms of most diseases of the intestines and the gastrointestinal tract in general.

Indicators to pay attention to when self-diagnosing stools :

• frequency per day and per week;
• consistency and volume;
• change in the frequency and consistency of the stool, in comparison with how it was before, when peace and tranquility reigned in the stomach;
• impurities in the stool and its color;
• cases of unsuccessful or excessive urge to empty the bowels;
• lack of urge to defecate or feeling of incomplete emptying of the bowels.

You don’t have to look for a problem where there isn’t one, and you certainly shouldn’t turn a blind eye to alarming symptoms. To determine what is the norm, it is important to understand that each organism is individual!

Normal chair characteristics

1. Frequency – usually 1-2 times a day, 3 to 7 times a week.
2. Stool consistency, for quick orientation of the patient and the doctor in it, the Bristol scale, which was published back in 1997, is used. Let’s get to know her better. Depending on the diet, the amount of fiber, water, stools can normally vary from type 3 to type 5.
3. Stool stability is perhaps the most difficult to explain: there should be no sudden changes in consistency, stool frequency during the week, +/- one type on the Bristol scale. Also important is the subjective sensation before, during and after the act of defecation. Here is a place for satisfaction and quiet joy, I’m quite serious!
4. The color of the stool can be varied, it depends on the diet. Brown of different shades is considered optimal. We make an amendment for the color of food: a lot of dairy products in the diet – the stool will be lighter. It’s darker if you ate a dish with nori, a black burger. In addition, it is worth thinking about drugs or dietary supplements that you can take – bismuth and iron preparations give dark, closer to green stools.

Warning symptoms not to be ignored

1. Smaller stools (less than 1 every 2 days or 3 times a week) or frequent stools (more than 2, rarely 3 times a day).
2. Changes in shape and consistency. We will continue to get acquainted with the Bristol scale, not the norm in it: fragmented, “sheep” or dense, type 1-2 feces and, in contrast to it, mushy or watery stools, stools in separate flakes – type 6-7.
3. Unstable stools – alternation of its consistency and frequency without any regularity, then 1 time per day, then 5, then type 3 on the Bristol scale, then 6. It is also important to notice what sensations accompanied the alternation of stool (good / bad).
4. Color change. Pay attention to very light, closer to gray stools or very dark, black stools. Often yellow stools are also a sign of abnormality.
5. The appearance of impurities in the feces is perhaps the most formidable, but a clear symptom:

   🔸Blood. It can be scarlet, dark, it can be changed black. It can be in scarce amounts, only on a piece of paper or on the surface of the stool, it can be mixed with feces. It may drip or stand out excessively, but here you yourself will call an ambulance team without much thought.

   There are many diseases, a disturbing symptom, however, one should not be afraid of examination, it is better than reaping the fruits of inaction.

   🔸 Slime. Often we are faced with a misunderstanding of this term. I would describe it as follows: a clear viscous liquid, resembling saliva, can be mixed with the stool, can be separated on its own. May be released as foam.

   🔸 A yellow-green admixture in the stool can be a sign of the presence of pus, which means inflammation, or an accelerated passage of bile through the gastrointestinal tract.

   🔸Undigested pieces of food – the result of an accelerated work of the gastrointestinal tract and incomplete processing of the food product, pay attention to their composition (meat / vegetables), especially alarming if you see food consumed during the day.

6. Ineffective or excessive urge to stool, as well as the absence of an urge to stool, may not be the norm, pay attention to this.

In case of abnormalities, consult a gastroenterologist.

Fecal tests for diagnosing bowel diseases

Tracking stool parameters is a simple and effective method that can be used for preliminary diagnosis. If deviations from the norm have appeared, in addition to consulting a gastroenterologist, stool tests will be required to help establish the cause of these deviations. Fecal analyzes are powerful non-invasive diagnostic tools.

Coprogram or general fecal analysis is the most famous, proven analysis. It examines the components of the processing of all foods (proteins, fats, carbohydrates), mucus, visible blood, inflammatory cells, sometimes even protozoan cysts or helminth eggs can be identified and described.

Fecal occult blood is a more accurate method for detecting blood in the stool, including altered, from the upper GI tract, in minimal quantities.

Fecal calprotectin – assay to detect inflammation in the intestine. It is especially interesting as a screening in older people in conjunction with feces for occult blood.

Eosinophilic neurotoxin is an indicator of an allergic reaction in the gastrointestinal tract.

Pancreatic elastase is useful for patients with chronic pancreatitis to determine the degree of production of pancreatic enzymes.

Stool culture for dysbacteriosis to detect deviations in the composition of the microflora, the growth of pathogenic and opportunistic flora.

Also do not lose their relevance stool tests for helminths and protozoa . There are many of them, starting from microscopic examination by the Parasep enrichment method, up to high-precision PCR reactions separately for each type of pathogen or a panel of the most common ones.

For the interpretation of the tests, I recommend that you consult a doctor.

How to do a stool test correctly?

Proper preparation and collection of stool samples will ensure the correct result. All stool tests must be taken in a special container on the day of collection; the collected samples should be stored in the refrigerator for no more than 6-8 hours. The collection of stool samples is carried out in a natural way, without the use of enemas and laxatives, urine should not get into the tests. The container must be filled 1/3. Some stool tests require special preparation before taking them.

To prepare for a coprogram, skip a week or more after taking antibiotics. Before analysis, do not take laxatives, enzymes, sorbents, do not use rectal suppositories and ointments.

Before testing for occult bleeding of the gastrointestinal tract, a 4-5-day diet is recommended with the exclusion of meat, offal (liver, heart), fish, as well as iron, magnesium and bismuth preparations. However, when testing stool for occult blood using the Colonview method, only restriction of the above drugs is recommended.

A special container is used for tests for helminth eggs, cysts and vegetative forms of protozoa, as well as for inoculation for intestinal dysbacteriosis.

At GC Expert, you can get a consultation with a gastroenterologist specializing in the diagnosis and treatment of intestinal diseases, pass all the above tests or undergo a comprehensive diagnosis under the “Check-up intestines” program in two days.

Be healthy! Sincerely, gastroenterologist-nutritionist Svetlana Igorevna Kovaleva.

Intestinal melanosis – Adamant Medical Clinic

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Adamant
medical clinic

St. Petersburg, Moika river embankment, 78.

+7 (812) 740-20-90

Intestinal melanosis is a benign disease characterized by excessive accumulation of the coloring pigment lipafuscin in the walls of the organ. It is because of it that the inner surface of the intestine with melanosis acquires a characteristic dark color (from brown to black).

For the first time, the disease was described in the middle of the 19th century by the French doctor J. Cruvelier. Pathology often occurs in old age and mainly in women. The disease develops against the background of chronic constipation, if patients uncontrollably and in large quantities take laxatives containing antraglycosides (herbal preparations).

Melanosis, as a rule, proceeds without pronounced symptoms and is diagnosed during a routine preventive examination of the intestine, or during an endoscopic examination for another disease of the colon. Pathology is expressed in focal or diffuse staining of the mucosa of the organ in a dark color. Although oval nodular accumulations of lymphoid tissue and solitary lymphatic follicles of the intestine retain their usual color.

Diseases of the liver and pancreas, colon cancer can increase the severity of the pathology. In some cases, there may be darkening in all parts of the colon.

Below are images of the colonic mucosa in normal and melanosis cases:

In most cases, patients with melanosis complain of chronic constipation and regularly abuse large doses of laxatives. Effective treatment with the withdrawal of laxatives in such patients can lead to the complete disappearance of the disease.

It is important to understand that self-medication of diseases of the gastrointestinal tract and the abuse of drugs is unacceptable. If you are concerned about long-term, especially growing, constipation, medicines should be taken only after consulting a specialist (gastroenterologist, surgeon) and a qualitative examination of the colon, so as not to miss the organic cause of constipation (large polyps, tumors).

To date, the most informative method for examining the colon is the colonoscopy procedure. It allows to detect intestinal pathology at the earliest stages, to carry out therapeutic manipulations in the intestine, to take materials for histological examination.

Aleinikov Anton Vladimirovich ,

head of the endoscopic department of the Adamant Medical Clinic

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