What your poop can tell you about your health

[00:00.67] The average person poops out approximately 11,030 kilograms of cumulative waste.

[00:06.52] That's the equivalent of more than six SUVs.

[00:09.70] Now, oftentimes, that poop is brown.

[00:12.09] But why is that, considering all the colorful comestibles one consumes?

[00:17.41] And what's going on when poop appears in different colors and textures?

[00:22.19] Say you’re eating a beautiful, rainbowy salad.

[00:25.11] Your teeth and saliva first help break down the food and add lubrication.

[00:30.69] Each bite enters your esophagus and sequential muscle contractions push it towards your stomach.

[00:37.06] There, the mixture combines with the clear, hydrochloric acid and enzyme-packed digestive juices your stomach started secreting as you prepared to eat.

[00:49.82] These juices further degrade your food, and once your stomach stops churning, its partially digested contents, called chyme, slowly empty into your small intestine.

[01:02.30] Your pancreas releases another clear fluid loaded with even more enzymes, which get to work breaking carbohydrates down into monosaccharides, and proteins into amino acids and peptides.

[01:16.91] At this point, your liver also sends in bile, which is tinted yellow.

[01:22.22] It contains salts that help separate the fats from your food so enzymes can also transform them into smaller units, like monoglycerides and fatty acids.

[01:33.65] Specific intestinal cells can then absorb these nutrients into the bloodstream.

[01:40.02] Bile is especially important on the color front.

[01:44.01] The reason it's yellow is because one of its major components is bilirubin, a yellowy compound produced by the breakdown of hemoglobin, the protein that helps your red blood cells transport oxygen.

[01:58.62] By this point, the digestive system has broken down and absorbed lots of nutrients and added bile to the mix, so we’ve gone from a rainbow medley to a greenish-yellow liquid.

[02:10.30] But the transformation isn’t yet complete.

[02:12.96] This mixture then reaches the large intestine, where microbes break the bilirubin down into stercobilin.

[02:20.66] This compound is brown, and it's what lends poop its classic color.

[02:25.71] The large intestine then absorbs excess water, and the semi-solid brown mass is soon ready for excretion.

[02:33.68] But of course, it doesn’t always go this way.

[02:36.87] Our bodies have a hard time processing certain pigments.

[02:42.45] Red beets, for example, are packed with betanins— large, pigmented molecules that our bodies only absorb about half the time, leading to red-tinged waste.

[02:55.20] Indeed, loading up on any one kind of colorful food can overwhelm the usual processes that degrade and absorb the pigment, resulting in poos of different hues.

[03:08.21] Meanwhile, certain medicines that treat upset stomachs may contain bismuth, which reacts with sulfur in the digestive tract to form bismuth sulfide, turning poop pitch-black.

[03:20.43] None of these color shift scenarios are cause for concern, but some changes in poop characteristics can indicate when something’s not quite right.

[03:31.06] Ideally, poop is brown, semi-soft, sausage shaped, and easy to pass.

[03:37.17] Constipation can be a sign of dehydration, insufficient fiber, or another digestive disruption.

[03:44.61] And diarrhea might be greenish because it traversed the digestive tract too quickly for bacteria to transform bilirubin into stercobilin.

[03:54.97] This might happen because of disturbances including food intolerances, infections, and inflammatory diseases.

[04:03.20] Yellow, smelly, floating poops could mean the pancreas isn’t producing all the digestive enzymes needed to break down fats in the small intestine.

[04:13.30] Pale poop may come to pass when bile isn't entering the small intestine, suggesting a liver, gallbladder, or pancreas problem.

[04:22.59] And red or black poop can indicate internal bleeding from any number of intestinal abnormalities.

[04:30.56] Considering how small changes in diet and lifestyle can cause big shifts in bowel movements, a couple days of colorful poops, constipation, or diarrhea are generally benign.

[04:44.37] But it’s worth monitoring the situation in case things don’t return to normal within a week.

[04:50.48] In those scenarios, it's a good idea to get a doctor on the case.

[04:54.74] Blood, discomfort, and persistent constipation, diarrhea, narrow poops, or lack of relief from bowel movements can indicate more serious digestive issues.

[05:07.75] This includes blockages, inflammation, bowel diseases, and cancers.

[05:13.33] Your bowels will only benefit from early intervention.

[05:17.32] So, don’t be afraid to take to the toilet, face your feces, and examine your excrement.

[05:23.42] There’s nothing to be ashamed of— but lots to learn about the colorful choreography going on inside.