What your poop says about your health

Poop Tracker
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For the average person, when it comes to bowel movement, we behave as if the matter is coming from the outer space rather than out of our bodies.

Many people can never take a look at their poop, which they consider reprehensible. Immediately they relieve themselves, they flush it away with a sigh of relief at another job well done.

Those who use pit toilets don’t even have anything to do with what comes out of their bodies because everything goes down the drain, literally. Never to be seen forever.

Yet, poop is so important to being alive in good health that it is necessary to know how it impacts us for good or bad.

The four S

For one, scientists say, in a lifetime, the average human will excrete about 4,082.33kg of poop.

More important, experts say, the shape, size, smell and shade of your poop say so much about the state of your health. And that is why, in certain situations, the doctor tells you to bring urine or poop sample to be examined in order to determine the right course of treatment.

For instance, doctors say, laboratory examination of faeces — also called stool examination or stool test — is done to detect the presence of parasites such as pinworms and/or their eggs; or to detect bacteria that spread diseases.

Smell

Physicians say generally, everyone’s poop smells. Specialist in human anatomy and Medical Director, MART-Life Detox Clinic, Prof. Oladapo Ashiru, says we are what we eat.

He explains that generally, it takes about 15 hours for food to completely pass through the digestive system; and that after the stomach may have done its bit in processing the food we eat, it travels into the small intestines, which takes up as much nutrients from the food as possible.

“By this time, the digested food has become a sludge, and when it enters the large intestines, whatever nutritional liquid that is available is sucked up for maximum nutrition. After this, the digested food becomes poop that we pass out,” he adds.

Scientists also note that poops smell because the temperature of our stomach system is a whopping 98.7⁰ Fahrenheit for most people, and that we need to change our diet from eating junks to eating fresh foods if we want to eliminate obnoxious faecal smell.

They advise that though the smell of poop can be rather unpleasant, smells that are particularly strange or foul shouldn’t be ignored.

Frequency

In terms of how frequently we should have bowel movement, physicians say it’s average to go once or twice a day, though many people go more, and some go less — maybe every other day, and or as infrequently as once or twice a week.  “As long as you feel comfortable, you don’t need to worry,” the doctors enthuse.

Healthy poop

Beyond this, however, what makes for a healthy poop? Experts say poops vary significantly in appearance, depending on the dietary habit and state of health of an individual.

Family physician, Dr. Grace Oluwaseun, says the normal poop colour is brownish; but when we eat substantial quantity of leafy greens such as cabbage, lettuce, cucumber, etc., our poop may be green in colour.

“The same thing happens when we can’t digest bile or when we are taking antibiotics,” Oluwaseun says. However, she warns, greenish stool may also be an indication of Crohn’s disease — a bowel disease that causes inflammation of the lining of the digestive tract, which can lead to abdominal pain, severe diarrhoea and even malnutrition.

Again, she explains, “The brown colour comes from a combination of bile and bilirubin — which the body expels from dead red blood cells. So, when an individual passes poop that has clay-like appearance, it is probably because he lacks bilirubin,” the doctor says.

She warns that sometimes, when the physician suspects an issue with the liver, he could order “serum bilirubin,” which is considered a true test of liver function, as it reflects the liver’s ability to take up, process, and secrete bilirubin into the bile.

Seedy poop

A nutritionist, Dr. Remi Omotunde, says it is common for people whose foods did not digest due to one reason or the other to see substances like seeds, nuts, corn and beans in their poops.

“This is mainly because of these foods’ high dietary fibre content,” Omotunde says.

Red stool

Sometimes, poops come in bright colours, such as red; or dull, sickening colour, such as yellow. The nutritionist says this is because certain foods like beets may turn faeces into different hues of red.

Again, he says, when we ingest too much of foods with artificial colouring, such as are usually present in some processed foods, it can result in passing faeces with unusual colouring.

Oluwaseun notes that though serious diarrhoea can cause blood in one’s stool, the phenomenon is a cause for concern if it persists; and we must seek medical help to rule out any health problem, such as colorectal cancer.

Black stool

“Black stools caused by digested blood usually indicate a problem in the intestines, whereas red streaks of blood in stool are usually caused by bleeding in the rectum or anus,” the physicians say.

When poops are black, physicians advise you to see your doctor because if it is not due to too much intake of red meat or iron supplements, it may be due to bleeding internally, possibly as a result of an ulcer or cancer. “Such stools are sticky and smell bad,” the doctor says.

Loose stool

Omotunde warns that though many people run away from sugars, the artificial sweeteners they take are not better. “Apart from the fact that these artificial sweeteners are several times sweeter than sugar and therefore unhealthy, the body doesn’t absorb them, and they suck water into the intestines, leading to passing loose stool,” he advises.

Yellowish poop

“Yellow stool is an indication of gall bladder problem, or the presence of some parasites,” the family doctor says.

When you take too much antacid, you may excrete white poop. Beyond that, Oluwaseun says, it may be an indication of liver disease or pancreatic disorder.

Pellet-like, floating poop

Sometimes when you excrete, you may feel pellet-like substances passing through your anus. Omotunde says this happens when you don’t take enough fruit and vegetable that would have prevented your food from staying too long in the intestines.

If your poop floats and stinks beyond normal, doctors say it may be because your body is not absorbing fats the way it should.

Watery stool

Oluwaseun says you are likely to pass watery stool when your food moves through the intestines too quickly, perhaps due to an infection, or when you eat too much vegetables and fruit.

Pencil-thin stool

When benign rectal polyps are present in the colon, or if you have bowel obstruction, you may pass pencil-thin stool. Beyond this, however, the physicians say, it may be an indicator of colon cancer. She advises that you should not wave it aside, especially when it happens consistently and also if you are past middle age.

“Prostate enlargement, colon or prostate cancer are some of the conditions that can cause obstruction,” Oluwaseun counsels.

Hard poops

If you have to undergo the equivalent of pushing that a pregnant woman does at childbirth when you want to poop, doctors say it may be because your food stays too long in the guts and, therefore, it has reabsorbed water. “This may be due to dehydration, constipation or the after-effect of some drugs,” Oluwaseun explains.

Texture

In conclusion, physicians say well-formed stools are soft and flexible; they have good texture, volume and weight; and are passed easily in the S-shaped form. Also, they say, there should be little gas or odour. “This shows that the food you ate passed through your system in good time,” Omotunde says.