Floater alert: Here’s what it means if your poop floats

20 Jan 2018

Suzannah Weiss

Worried because your poop is floating rather than sinking?

Your poop can tell you a lot about your health. Red in the bowl – which can signal anything from haemorrhoids to colon cancer – is a known red flag.

But what if the colour is just fine, but it doesn’t exactly sink to the bottom of the bowl like normal poop does?

Read more: The secret to losing weight might be in your poop

It’s not exactly common, but we’ve all probably experienced the floating turd. So what exactly does it mean if your stool is not sinking?

“A floating stool is simply less dense than a sinking stool,” says gastroenterologist Dr Neil Stollman.

Doctors used to think this resulted from excess fat in the faeces, but one study in the New England Journal of Medicine suggests it’s actually extra air. Dr Stollman says it could probably be either, though air is more likely.

Extra air in the stool could come from unabsorbed carbohydrates, like lactose or fibre, which ferment in the colon and release gas, says Dr Stollman.

This may be more likely to happen if you’re lactose intolerant or have just consumed a lot of dairy or fibre all at once.

Sugary alcoholic drinks and artificial sweeteners can also make your poop gassier, says gastroenterologist Dr Kenneth Brown.

And if your poop contains more air or gas than normal, it will make it lighter – thus more likely to float on top of the water than sink to the bottom of it, like denser turds do.

Read more: Here’s a one weird reason you might be struggling to poop

Still, it’s possible that extra fat in your faeces can cause it to float, too. In this case, eating more fatty food than normal is likely the culprit, says Dr Stollman.

When your intestines can’t absorb all that fat, it’s excreted through your poop.

In rarer cases, fatty, floating stools – officially known as steatorrhea – can signal that your body is unable to digest and absorb nutrients, like fat, properly. This is called malabsorption.

If there are also drops of oil in the toilet, your pancreas might not be working properly to absorb the fat you eat, says Dr Brown. And oil in the poop itself might mean the bacteria from your small intestine are growing outside it, breaking it down before you can.

Read more: If you can’t stop passing gas, you need to read this

Doctors can diagnose malabsorption through a faecal fat test, which literally measures the amount of fat excreted in your stool. If your floating poop is caused by malabsorption, you will probably have other signs as well, like frequent loose stools, extremely foul-smelling stools, abdominal cramps and gas.

That said, in most cases, floating poop on its own probably doesn’t indicate any problem.

“Very few people have consistent bowels,” says Dr Stollman.

Most changes are simply due to diet or medications. But if you notice a change for a month or more, talk to your doctor just to be safe.

^{This article was originally published on www.menshealth.com}

^{Image credit: iStock}

We live in a world where facts and fiction get blurred

In times of uncertainty you need journalism you can trust. For 14 free days, you can have access to a world of in-depth analyses, investigative journalism, top opinions and a range of features. Journalism strengthens democracy. Invest in the future today. Thereafter you will be billed R75 per month. You can cancel anytime and if you cancel within 14 days you won’t be billed. 

Subscribe to News24

Next on Life

Local is very lekker!

31 Jan 2014

description

username

Most ReadFor Subscribers

• HELLO WEEKEND | When more than one million wildebeest meet the mighty Mara River

• From cultural phenomenon to unravelled reckoning: The rise and fall of once-celebrated Kevin Spacey

• News24 Wine | A Curated Case | Edition One

• The new little Vitz is Toyota’s answer for affordable motoring in SA

• Otis, Finn and me: Schalk Bezuidenhout reveals embarrassingly ‘strong bond’ with his adopted dogs

• Parties slam public protector finding in Phala Phala money theft saga

• Armscor CEO accused of fraud and sexual misconduct

• ANC increases NEC deployees after ANCYL congress

• Mmusi Maimane | SA has strayed from the ideals of The Freedom Charter

• Government squandered R520 million irregularly on security tenders

You’ve Got Mail!

Sommelier – Bi-weekly

A new bi-weekly newsletter by wine editor Daléne Fourie. The newsletter will serve as a guide for those who make wine, those who want to learn more about wine, and those who simply just love wine.

Sign up now!

Game on!

Can you ace them all?

Today’s crossword, wordflower, sudoku and weekly news quiz

Play Now

Editorial feedback and complaints

Contact the public editor with feedback for our journalists, complaints, queries or suggestions about articles on News24.

LEARN MORE

Binge current 3 episodes of Rosemary’s Hitlist»

30 Jun

Stream The Mommy Club this weekend only on Showmax»

30 Jun

Meet the glamorous ladies of The Mommy Club, now streaming»

29 Jun

Nope – A new terror from Jordan Peele»

29 Jun

See more from Showmax

Find More

How floating poos can be a sign of 4 dangerous health conditions

EVER found yourself standing by the loo insistently flushing the floater that just won’t go down?

While the occasional floating poo is nothing to worry about, lots of stubborn poops that refuse to be flushed could be a sign of something more serious.

1

Floating stools may contain high levels of fat, experts have warnedCredit: Getty

Poo’s ability to float is related to what its made up of.

Faeces which is filled with gas and fibre tends to be lighter and float more easily, according to MIT Medical.

But floating stools may contain high levels of fat, a sign that your body isn’t absorbing nutrients well.

1. Stomach infection

Some tummy bugs can release gas in the intestine which gets trapped in the stool meaning it floats, according to John Hopkins Medicine.

Other more serious illnesses, like the parasitic infection giardiasis, can stop your body from absorbing fat properly, causing poops to be greasy and float.

2. Gastrointestinal disorders

Some common bowel disorders can cause poops to rise in the toilet bowl more than they should.

The authors of a 2015 study found that 26 per cent of people with bowel disorders, such as irritable bowel syndrome and dyspepsia, had floating stools.

For some people, a floating number two may be the first warning sign of a bowel problem.

Most read in Diet & Fitness

TAKE A BREAK

Madonna’s pals fear she pushed herself too far to compete with Taylor Swift

‘COVER-UP’

‘Appalling’ errors by cops after Long Island Serial Killer victim’s 1st autopsy

GOLF TEE-SE

Fans stunned as Paige Spiranac suffers ‘cheeky’ wardrobe malfunction on course

NO OF-FENCE

Everyone says my privacy fence’s unfair on neighbours…they don’t know the truth

When floating stools occur alongside other symptoms, such as pain, diarrhea, bloating, or constipation, it may signal an underlying stomach issue.

3. Malabsorption

“Conditions causing malabsorption might cause stools to float,” Dr. Daniel Freedberg, a gastroenterologist and professor at Columbia University, told Insider.

For example, people who have an intolerance to lactose can experience fatty stools if they consume milk, cheese, or other dairy products.

This is because the body is unable to break down the lactose properly.

4. Pancreatic cancer

The pancreas is a small, pouch-like gland in the middle of your tummy.

It works by converting the food we eat into fuel for the body’s cells. 

According to American Cancer Society, floating stools may be an early symptom of pancreatic cancer.

If a tumour blocks the pancreas, it can fail to digest food properly, leading to malabsorption.

And if this happens, stool may float due to the higher fat content, appear bulky, greasy, and unusually pale, the society explained.

When to see a doctor

If you find you number two’s never go down, it’s worth a check in with your GP, the NHS says on it’s website.

It’s also worth a consultation with your GP if you notice “blood, constipation or diarrhoea that won’t quit,” Moe Schlachter, a registered dietician and president of Houston Family Nutrition, also told Insider.

Riddles about the numbers 0-9 in verse and with a trick

She looks like a stick,
And on a thin needle, too.
Straight, straight always,
In the ranks is after zero.
(Unit)

Pointed sister
Account opens…
(Unit)

How many suns behind a cloud,
How many refills are in a fountain pen,
How many noses does an elephant have,
How many watches are on your hand?
How many legs does a fly agaric have
And attempts at the sapper,
Knows and is proud of himself
This figure …
(Unit)

There were fruits on the table:
Plum, peach, orange.
Vanya ate two products,
And the fruit remained . ..
(One)

Riddles about the number 2

Two young penguins
They swim all day on the ice.

Arches his neck,
And beautiful and slim,
Ponytail lifts slightly
Like a swan, the number …
(Two)

There is such a bird at school:
If it sits on the page,
That with a bowed head
You return home.
(Two)

The swan swims in a notebook,
So something is wrong.
If you are completely Dunno,
Get this number.
(Two)

How many wings does a tit have,
How many paws does each bird have?
How many banks of the river,
How many ears does a sheep have?
How many eyes does an evil lion have
Only the number knows. ..
(Two)

Masha played in the cities,
Called and counted:
Kemerovo and Moscow,
Named cities…
(Two)

Grisha’s blue watch,
Misha’s red watch,
How many hours are
Do the boys have twins?
(Two)

Masha’s apple,
And Natasha has a pear.
Rather, these fruits
Count, kids!
(Two)

There were five pies in a bowl.
Two pies were taken by Lariska,
Another one got snatched by the pussy.
So how many are left in the bowl?
(Two)

Riddles about the number 3

Three ducklings on the pond
Learn to learn to look for food.

This figure is unusual,
Chubby, you know.
And it looks like the letter Z,
What’s the number? Guess!
(Three)

This figure is a miracle.
She has family everywhere.
Even the alphabet has
She has a twin sister.
(Three)

Circle Z,
Bring on the numbers.
Take a closer look –
The letter Z as a number …
(Three)

Ball one in Sasha’s hand,
Masha has two balls in her hand.
Let’s count all the balls
And we get exactly …
(Three)

Start calculating:
Subtract five from eight.
Result speak
And write down the number …
(Three)

Look at the triangle,
How many corners are there?
Exactly…
(Three)

Four lions under the tree,
One left, left …
(Three)

Near the forest, at the edge of the forest
Three of them live in a hut.
There are three chairs and three mugs.
Three beds, three pillows.
Guess without a clue,
Who are the heroes of this tale?
(Three Bears)

Goldfish swims, dives,
How many wishes does the fish fulfill?
(Three)

Riddles about the number 4

Four skates play underwater,
Seahorses change color easily!

Someone at night old chair
Turned back down.
And now in our apartment
He became a number …
(Four)

This figure is so similar to
On a beautiful sail!
Bloated wider and wider
Number…
(Four)

Made by little Yegorka
General cleaning,
Knocked over a chair in the apartment,
The chair looked like…
(Four)

Director and screenwriter here
Another honored artist,
Live host,
Can you tell me how many of us? …
(Four)

I visited my grandmother,
In her apartment
Two cats and two cats,
And in total – . ..
(Four)

To dress sons warmly,
Missing two socks.
How many sons are in the family,
If there are six socks in the house?
(Four)

Found five berries in the grass
And ate one, left …
(Four)

Five candles burned
Four blew Elisha
How many candles are left?
(Four, one burned out)

Riddles about the number 5

Five kittens played all day,
Have fun rolling a ball.

If two flip
And take a close look,
So and so look again,
Then we will see the number . ..
(Five)

Guess, friends,
What number will I be?
Turned the handle to the right,
Leg sharply bent?
(Five)

These abacus are always there,
You just need to bend them.
Fingers are easy to count,
They are exactly on the hand …
(Five)

Number of fingers on hand
And a penny in a patch,
At the Starfish Rays,
Beaks of five rooks,
Blades at maple leaves
And corners at the bastion,
Tell about all this
The number will help us . ..
(Five)

Sveta’s little sister
Loves to count fingers!
Counts them daily,
Every day comes out…
(Five)

Don’t be lazy at school:
draw, write, study,
Answer
in class
And they will put in the diary …
(Five)

Riddles about the number 6

Appeared by starlings
Six pretty chicks.

Guys Guess
What is an acrobat number?
If you stand on your head,
Exactly three more will be.
(Six)

If padlock
Lift up the proboscis,
Then we will see here
Not a lock, but a number . ..
(Six)

Number like a hippo,
Her belly is round,
The neck deftly bends,
Follows the five.
(Six)

Once upon a neighbor Tolya
I had a chance to sit on a llama,
And Tolya together with Lama
The legs immediately became …
(Six)

The apples in the garden are ripe.
We got to taste them.
Three ruddy, bulk,
Three with sourness. How many?
(Six)

How many letters does the dragon have
And zeros for a million,
Various chess pieces,
Wings of three white hens,
May beetle legs
And the sides of the chest.
If we cannot count ourselves,
The number will tell us …
(Six)

How many ends
Three cucumbers?
(Six)

Riddles about the number 7

Seven industrious bees
They flew to our village.

She looks like a braid,
But he can’t mow the grass –
Not sharpened at all
And the number
does not mow
(Seven)

She looks like an axe,
But do not chop wood into the yard.
Like a braid, but not quite,
It’s just a number…
(Seven)

We have a proverb
And she is known to everyone –
Cut only once,
And you need to measure . .
(Seven)

How many colors are in the rainbow,
Days in the week for whales.
Dwarfs at Snow White’s,
Twin brothers at the pawn,
Notes that even children know,
And all the wonders in the world,
Deal with it all
The number will help us …
(Seven)

Owls were sitting in the forest
Six of us ate on the branches.
A girlfriend flew to them
Long-tailed cuckoo.
They do not prick needles,
How many birds are on the tree?
(Seven)

Riddles about the number 8

Eight little mice
Eat delicious cheese in a hurry.

Two mugs connected,
What number did you get?
(Eight)

Two rings, but without end,
There is no nail in the middle.
If I roll over,
That won’t change at all.
Get to know me soon,
So what number am I?
(Eight)

Two circles stood side by side –
What are these amazing glasses?
Turn at least upside down,
They are the same!
(Eight)

The figure looks like a toy –
Roly-poly rattle.
Don’t hit her on the ground.
Everyone understands – this is . ..
(Eight)

We have the number with a secret.
Both in winter and hot summer
Barely distinguish,
Where is the stomach, where is the head.
(Eight)

This flower has
Four petals.
And how many petals
Two of these flowers?
(Eight)

A kitten was running on the grass,
And a puppy ran after him,
Who guys will count,
How many legs ran there?
(Eight)

Riddles about the number 9

Nine monkeys are sitting on a palm tree,
Fingers count, bananas are eaten.

This is an acrobat figure
And her name is …
(Nine)

This figure is so tricky,
You turn it over,
And miracles will begin –
You will see the number six!
(Nine)

That’s the number, look,
She has her own secret:
Turn the leaf with her,
The number will turn into six!
(Nine)

This figure is older than eight
And a little under ten.
This is the sum of six and three,
Can you guess this riddle?
(Nine)

I am a figure-focus and surprise
I like to hold on to the ledge.
And if I roll over,
Then the number six will instantly turn out to be.
(Nine)

Riddles about the number 0

The spider has a bad catch –
Zero caught flies and beetles.

It looks like the letter O,
It doesn’t mean anything.
But any number at once
Increase ten times!
(Zero)

I don’t look like a penny,
Doesn’t look like ruby.
I am round, but not a fool,
With a hole, but not a donut.
(Zero)

How old is a chick in an egg,
How many wings does a kitten have,
How many numbers in the alphabet,
How many mountains will a tiger swallow,
How much does a mouse weigh tons,
How many crows in a flock of fish,
How many hares did the moth eat,
Only the number knows. ..
(Zero)

Huge tiger lived in a cage,
And in freedom he grieved.
Somehow the tiger opened the lock
And he took off running.
Canceled tour,
Became in a cage of tigers …
(Zero)

Riddles with the answer “numbers”

Live in a smart book
Cunning brothers.
Ten of them, but these brothers are
They count everything in the world.
(Numbers)

Everything in the world we believe
We add, we multiply.
We create programs, codes
Nine signs are …
(Numbers)

Eighteen, thirty-six –
These numbers have signs.
Every child should know them,
To learn how to count easily.
(Numbers)

Return to the section Riddles for children.

Interview puzzle questions with answers. Part 1 — Work.ua

Candidates for vacancies are given logical problems to assess their analytical skills. Anyone can face such questions. But even if this does not happen to you, it will be simply interesting to study them for preparation.

Candidates who encounter puzzles during the interview should not panic and get lost. As a rule, in most cases it is enough to show the course of your thoughts and ways to solve the problem. It may well be that the problem does not have a correct solution or an unambiguous answer. In no case should you say “I don’t know” or “I find it difficult to answer”, just think out loud.

So that you know what to be prepared for and not get confused, Work. ua has collected the most popular puzzle questions and prepared answers and recommendations for them. Who knows, maybe you will come across exactly these tasks.

All of these puzzles can be asked of you when interviewing for a php programmer job.

Manholes

This is perhaps the most common question among all puzzles.

Question: Why are manholes round?

Answer: There are several options. Since the diameter of the circle is the same, no matter how you twist it, the round hatch cannot fall into the well. A square, for example, has a diagonal larger than its sides, so the lid could fall off. You can also answer that round hatches are easier to transport and move.

Bulbs

Question: There are 3 bulbs in a closed room and 3 switches in the corridor. What is the minimum door opening required to determine which switch belongs to which bulb?

Answer: For one discovery. We turn on 2 switches at the same time, after a while we turn off the second one. We go into the room: one of the bulbs remains on – this is the first switch, then we feel the remaining bulbs – the warm one will be the second switch, and the cold one, respectively, the third.

Cake

Question: How to divide a cake into 8 equal parts using three cuts?

Answer: First you need to make 2 cuts crosswise, dividing the cake into 4 equal parts. Then cut the cake horizontally in half. So what if the pieces have become low, but you have 8 equal parts. You can also, after the first two cuts, put the pieces on top of each other and halve them in one cut.

A dead man and a match

Question: A dead man was found in the field with a match in his hands, no traces. What did he die of and under what circumstances?

Answer: A man died from a fall from an airplane that began to lose altitude, and an accident was inevitable. One parachute was not enough for all the passengers and they drew lots. He got a short match, and he was forced to jump without a parachute.

Bus and balls

Question: How many tennis balls will fit on the bus?

Answer: The recruiter himself does not know the exact correct answer, since it is not specified what the balls and the bus are – their sizes are not known, and no one has checked this thoroughly. Therefore, the course of your thoughts is important here, you can only guess. Name the approximate length, width and height of the bus, the dimensions of one ball. Calculate the volume of the bus and the ball – this way you will find out how many balls will fit in an empty bus. Decrease approximately this value, taking into account the seats and other details of the bus, make allowance for the fact that the balls are not square and give an answer. In this case, the process of finding an answer is more important than the answer itself. The options for the question can be different: footballs – footballs, instead of a bus – a room, etc.

Tablets

Question: The doctor gave the patient 4 tablets of two types – 2 tablets of each, which cannot be distinguished by appearance. Tablets should be drunk in two doses: in the morning, one tablet of each type and in the same evening. If you violate the dosage or do not take the pills, the patient will die. So it turned out that the pills were mixed. How to get treatment and survive?

Answer: Of course, you can say that it’s better to go to the doctor and ask for more, after all, it’s a matter of life and death. But these may be the only pills on Earth, the doctor may disappear under mysterious circumstances, and so on. So you still have to answer. In addition, everything is quite simple: you need to divide each tablet into 2 parts and drink half of each tablet in the morning and evening.

In conclusion

Remember that, first of all, such tasks and puzzles are designed to test the candidate’s behavior in non-standard situations, to assess the ability to think, creative and logical approach.