THE COLOR OF YOUR BOWEL MOVEMENTS--WHAT IT MEANS

The Color of Your Bowel Movements--What It
Means
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January 26, 2008, Last Updated June 12, 2011
By Arthur Stevens, Contributing Columnist

My stool is black, what does this mean? My bowels were bright
red, should I be concerned? How many times have you looked
at your stool and secretly worried that your body had just
given you a major clue that something is terribly wrong? We all
have. We all study our stools. But few if any of us know what
we're looking at.

First, some basic facts. Your stool comes through your small
and large intestines. The intestines are filled with mucus. They
add bacteria and water to food, break it down, physically
manipulate the bolus as it moves along the intestines. They add
bile --a yellow green product from the gallbladder (the bile is
only produced in the gallbladder) --to help break it down more.

The whole system works a little like a compost pile in your
backyard.

Once the food is broken down, the nutrients are absorbed
through the small intestines into the blood stream. What's left,
the glob, contains leftover indigestible fiber, bacteria, some
water and some oil. It can also of course contain bile and
mucus.

Stool naturally comes in different colors. It is affected mostly
by what you eat. Eat beets, your stool will be red. Drink Blue
Kool-aid, your stool will be bluish. Eat lemon peels, and you'll
have yellow stool.

People often become concerned about the color of their bowel
movements when they see red stools, which they believe,
sometimes mistakenly, indicates the presence of blood in stools.
(Read more about the causes of and remedies for bloody
stools.)

But the color of your stools is also affected by the amount of
bile in the mix. Bile turns brown stool into a yellow-brown or
green.

So, here is a chart of the stool colors you might see and what
they mean:

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Stool Color	Cause	Food That Produces Color	What You Should Do
Brown	Normal	Almost all foods produce brown stool. The brown color comes from the bacteria that occur naturally in the intestines	Nothing. If its medium soft, about the size of a small banana, you're fine. If it's marble sized, you're constipated.
Mucus	Normal	None. Mucus comes from the intestines themselves. Only if a lot of mucus is present, is there a concern. If so, get checked for Crohn's or ulcerative colitis	See a doctor only if there's a lot of mucus, if it continues for more than a week or two or if there's red from blood.
Green	Bile. Your food is moving through the intestines too fast. As a result, the bile stays green --not brown, as it does when it has time to process the food and finish breaking it down. Green or darkish stool is normal in infants who are fed formula. In addition, all babies (even those who are breast fed), pass a first stool called the "meconium" which is slimy and green and is passed only once. After that, normal patterns settle in	Diarrhea can produce green stool. Diarrhea means the food is moving too fast through the intestines. Bile is naturally greenish-yellow. As it moves through the intestines, enzymes turn the bile brown.
Yellow	Excess fat in the intestines. Oily, yellow stools can also mean that you have a disorder which makes your intestines unable to break down oily foodYellow or mustard colored stools are normal in breast-fed infants.	Gluten	See a doctor if it continues to rule out Celiac's disease
Red	Depends on what makes it red. If it's blood, see a doctor and be screened for colon cancer, Crohn's and ulcerative colitis	Beets, Red Kool-aid or other dry powder drinks, peppers, even tomatoes and tomato sauce, pepperoni sausages. Other causes are Diazepam syrup, phenopthalein, medications such as Ampicillin Viprynium or Dioralyteoral rehydration solution.	If it's blood, see a doctor, could be colon cancer, Crohn's or ulcerative colitis. Blood in stools accompanied by diarrhea is a symptom of food poisoning.
White, Pale or Clay Colored	Not enough bile. Your bile would change this color of your stool to brown	Bread, flour, rice	Your bile duct may have an obstruction. Or your medications could be the cause (even over-the-counter meds like Kaopectate, Pepto Bismol, Tums). If the white or light color continues, see a doctor Pale or clay-colored stools can also indicate problems in the biliary drainage system, which affects your pancreas, liver and gallbladder. The condition is called acolic stools. Typically, your skin also turns yellow (jaundice) when you have acolic stools. Other conditions that can produce pale or clay colored stools include alcoholism, gallstones, liver cirrhosis, cysts and cancer.
Black or Dark Green	Iron. Or, it could also mean that your stomach or GI tract is bleeding.	Iron pills, liver, meats, dark vegetables such as spinach or kale, broccoli, black licorice, black olives	Usually clears up on its own once you re-balance your diet. See a doctor if it continues because it could mean your stomach is bleeding

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