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Stool color is generally influenced by what you eat as well as by the amount of bile — a yellow-green fluid that digests fats — in your stool. As bile pigments travel through your gastrointestinal tract, they are chemically altered by enzymes, changing the pigments from green to brown.
Poop’s brown color is mostly due to bile and bilirubin, which are both a yellowish color. When these substances mix with your digested food, intestinal secretions, bacteria, and old red blood cells in your digestive tract, they turn your waste brown.
Healthy bowel movements typically produce stools that are brown in color. Common color changes that can indicate a problem include: Red: Blood smears when wiping could be a sign of hemorrhoids or an anal tear, known as a fissure. Bright red blood or maroon blood in the stool could signify internal bleeding.
Stool can also appear darker with constipation.
So, what exactly is poop ? Well, it’s mostly just undigested food, proteins, bacteria, salts, and other substances that are produced and released by intestines.
When pancreatic disease messes with the organ’s ability to properly manufacture those enzymes, your stool looks paler and becomes less dense. You may also notice your poop is oily or greasy. “The toilet water will have a film that looks like oil,” Dr. Hendifar says.
It’s mainly composed of water, bacteria and other cells, gel-like residue from the digestion of soluble fiber, and insoluble fiber like that found in corn and bran. Most of the water is resorbed in the colon, the last part of the digestive tract.
The color of stool is impacted by the foods you eat and the kind of bacteria living in your colon. “There are a lot of food colorings added to what we eat and drink, so of course the color of your stool is then going to change,” says Lee. “When I perform a colonoscopy, I can actually tell what color the beverage was they used to take the prep.”
Bacteria in the colon break down the remaining material. Then the colon moves the leftover material into the rectum. The rectum is like a storage-holder for this waste.
Among other things, bile is what gives normal stool its brown color. (This is why white or light-gray stool can signal a problem with the normal flow of bile.) Healthy urine is yellow. The idea that lighter is better comes from fear of dehydration .