The feces are the color of red clay. Why is stool black?

Every normal person after a bowel movement is interested in the color of his feces. Anyone who claims not to do this is probably a bigot or blind. But we are not talking about personality traits and limited capabilities, but about what the color of personal excrement can tell an earthling. Sometimes their abnormal color indicates deviations in health, which cannot be ignored.

Stool is not only brown or brownish. Often this substance acquires a green, red, yellow, white or black color. In most cases, slight changes in the color of excrement are associated with dietary patterns. We don't eat the same thing every day. But sometimes a change in the color of feces indicates some kind of health problem, and in rare cases, that the digestive system is experiencing serious problems in its functioning.

If the color of your own waste worries you, it would be a good idea to consult a doctor.

Feces are brown, adults and children, Russians and Americans, vegetarians and meat-eaters know this. The color of feces is due to bile, a fluid produced by the liver to digest fats. Fresh bile has a yellowish-green color. Moving along with food masses through the intestines, bile undergoes chemical transformations and turns brown.

Green feces

In general, green or greenish poop is quite normal. This shade of substance is given by:

• Green vegetables (spinach, broccoli, etc.)
• Green food coloring (in drinks, ice cream, etc.)
• Nutritional supplements containing iron.

If you are suddenly puzzled by green diarrhea, then the color of the food eaten has nothing to do with it. The food probably rushed through the intestinal tract so quickly that the fat-digesting bile did not have time to turn brown.

Yellow feces

For many people, the yellow tint of excrement is the norm. For example, for young children, especially those who are breastfed. But if the stool looks oily and smells very bad, then it contains too much fat. This may mean that the body is not doing a good enough job of digesting food.

For example, if a person has celiac disease (gluten intolerance to wheat, rice or barley) and consumes food containing gluten (various types of bread, pasta, cookies), then the patient’s intestines do not work well - far from as they should.

There are other phenomena that cause stool to become yellow, greasy, and extremely smelly. If this happens to you often, tell about it to a doctor whose qualifications and opinion you trust.

White or just light-colored stool

There are medicines for diarrhea that contain the metal bismuth in the form of a salt - subsalicylate. For example, Kaopectate or Pepto Bismol. Sometimes, due to bismuth subsalicylate, the stool becomes. Barium compounds used in X-ray examinations of the upper digestive tract can play a similar trick with feces.

A more serious case is a deficiency of bile in the stool (as we already know, bile gives stool its characteristic brown color). Bile is produced by the liver and stored in the gallbladder, from where it passes into the small intestine to aid digestion. If there is not enough bile to give the feces their typical color, there is a health problem.

Liver diseases such as hepatitis can keep bile from leaking into stool. The same thing happens if the bile ducts are blocked, which may be caused by:

• Gallstones
• Tumor
• A rare birth defect called biliary atresia.

Black feces

Infants' stools in the first days after birth are black in color.

If this happens at an older age, it means that either the person ate something very dark, or took a dietary supplement. But this may also signal a more serious situation - bleeding in the upper intestine.

Pharmacy products and gifts that make poop include:

• Dietary supplements with iron compounds
• Bismuth subsalicylate (Pepto-Bismol)
• Blueberry

If the feces look like tar or tar, there may be bleeding in the digestive system. His reasons:

• Bleeding sores in the esophagus due to acid reflux (esophagitis)
• Benign tumors

Red or reddish stool

If, when you look into the toilet after defecation, you see reddish excrement, do not panic. First you need to remember if you ate anything intensely red the day before. Foods such as beets, tomato soup, or drinks with red food coloring can greatly affect the color of your stool. But if the stool is bright red, then most likely there is bleeding somewhere in the lower intestine. The same can be assumed if you didn’t eat anything red the other day.

The causes of bleeding that stains stool are as follows:

• Benign tumors
• Malignant tumors (cancer)
• Intestinal inflammation (colitis)
• Polyps in the intestines
• (disease of the intestinal walls)
• Haemorrhoids

If there is nothing to blame for the food, but the stool is red, you need to consult a doctor.

Feces are a collection of metabolic waste and undigested food particles. Digestion of food is possible thanks to the digestive enzymes of the stomach, pancreas and bile, as well as beneficial intestinal bacteria. Proteins, fats and carbohydrates are broken down in different parts of the gastrointestinal tract.

Feces contain bacteria, small fragments of undigested food, undigested cellulose fibers and metabolic products that the body does not need. The frequency, shape, composition and color of stools change. The color of stool is determined by the amount of bilirubin breakdown products (urobilinogen, stercobilin). Gray feces can appear in both adults and children of any age in the absence of disease.

Changes in stool in children

When identifying the sources of disturbances in the normal characteristics of stool, several main ones can be identified:

• medicines;
• food imbalance;
• dysfunction of the liver, pancreas;
• infectious and inflammatory diseases of the gastrointestinal tract.

Each person’s digestive processes are individual, and over the course of life these mechanisms undergo significant transformation. In a newborn, the organs of the gastrointestinal tract are just beginning to function; they are immature and cannot fully perform the necessary physiological functions. Gray feces appear in a child precisely because of this imperfection of the child’s body. A baby's diet has a big influence on his feces. When breastfeeding, it is easier for children to adapt to new environmental conditions. The first complementary feeding should meet the required deadlines so that the fragile body does not experience unnecessary stress. Gray stools appear in a child after the first feedings of infant formula.

The food the mother eats also affects the baby's excrement. With large amounts of dairy and plant foods, infants may experience gray diarrhea without any other symptoms. Unfortunately, natural feeding is not always possible. The stool of a bottle-fed baby becomes unstable, its color and consistency may change. However, these adaptive phenomena, in particular gray diarrhea, go away on their own within a few months. This state of a child’s body is absolutely normal for the appropriate age.

At 1 year of age, the child’s digestion stabilizes, and there should no longer be any sudden changes in stool. However, up to 3 years of age, periodic isolated changes in stool should not frighten parents.

After one year, the most common causes of abnormal stool properties are rotavirus gastroenteritis, dysbacteriosis, hepatitis, and bile duct dyskinesia. Timely diagnosis and treatment will help avoid complications.

Conditions requiring attention

Light gray, close to, should alert parents. The cause may be a disruption of the bile ducts, pancreas, and liver. These symptoms manifest themselves most clearly in pancreatitis, although such problems do not occur often in children.

If the stool becomes light grayish, mixed with a large amount of mucus or even blood, and turns into diarrhea in a child, you should consult a doctor.

This is how the manifestation of infectious and inflammatory diseases that require specialized therapy begins. Stool that is dirty gray in color, has a mushy consistency, and has an unpleasant, pungent odor in a one-year-old baby indicates the need to diversify his diet. A pediatrician can help with this by providing individual recommendations on proper nutrition for the baby.

Symptoms accompanying stool disorders require special attention:

• pain syndrome (in any area of ​​the abdomen);
• yellowness of the skin and icterus of the mucous membranes;
• increased body temperature;
• nausea and vomiting;
• darkening of urine;
• weight loss, loss of appetite;
• bloating, increased abdominal volume;
• noticeable deterioration in the child's condition.

Identification of these symptoms is an indication for immediate consultation with a doctor and undergoing the necessary tests (bacteriological and biochemical analysis of stool, extended coprogram).

Stool disorders in adults

Normally, in healthy people, stool is brown in various shades (from light beige to dark). The color of stool, discolored to light gray or whitish, often signals a violation of the transport of bile into the duodenum. There are enough reasons for such changes:

• cholecystitis;
• dyskinesia or obstruction of the biliary tract;
• hepatitis;
• pancreatitis;
• Crohn's disease;
• tumor processes in the liver, pancreas, papilla of Vater, gall bladder.

Any of these conditions requires examination, both laboratory and instrumental, as well as consultation with doctors.

Changes in stool can also be of a nutritional nature, for example, when consuming large amounts of rice or potatoes. Treatment with antidiarrheals, antacids, and X-ray examination using barium sulfate also affects the color of stool.

Causes of dark green stool

Vegetarians often experience bowel problems. Why does the stool turn dark green? In this case, changes in the shade of feces are caused by the plant pigment chlorophyll. It is found in spinach, arugula, parsley, dill, Brussels sprouts, green beans and other leafy vegetables. A large amount of fiber provokes similar symptoms as a result of accelerated transport through the intestinal tract.

Another reason for the appearance of dark green stool is metabolic disorders. The fact is that the bile pigment biliverdin, during rapid evacuation, does not have time to complete the complete decay process. As a result, the substances preceding it can be found in feces instead of brown stercobelin. Therefore, with diarrhea, as well as when using laxatives, stool becomes green in color.

Antibacterial medications can even cause dark green diarrhea. The state of dysbacteriosis with the development of fermentation and rotting processes of eaten food products causes similar symptoms.

Conditions accompanied by fever for more than a day, pain in different parts of the abdomen, nausea and vomiting require special attention. These may be signs of serious intestinal infections such as dysentery.

With pancreatitis, all characteristics of stool may change. Liquid stool becomes yellow-green in color (sometimes light yellow), with a shiny surface. These feces have a strong stench and are very difficult to wash off.

When examining the coprogram, dietary fiber and fatty inclusions are detected. With pancreatitis, a large amount appears due to a deficiency of the enzyme lipase, which breaks down fats. An additional contribution is made by an incorrect diet with a large amount of fatty, fried, smoked foods.

The most important diagnostic criteria for pancreatitis are biochemical indicators (lipase, amylase, trypsin), as well as instrumental studies such as ultrasound, computed tomography, radioisotope scanning, echography.

With the start of taking medications such as bismuth preparations containing iron, activated carbon, aspirin, ibuprofen or products with dark pigment, the appearance of gray stool is natural. This condition does not require discontinuation of medications or additional treatment; there is nothing to worry about.

But a dark gray shade indicates significant disturbances in the digestive processes. This may be nonspecific ulcerative colitis or putrefactive dyspepsia. With pancreatitis, inflammatory foci of glandular tissue become swollen. As a result, the lumen of the bile ducts passing through the pancreas is significantly reduced. Gray stools are formed due to insufficient flow of bile into the intestines.

If you notice any changes in your stool, do not despair. You need to calmly figure everything out, and if necessary, resort to additional diagnostic methods (laboratory, instrumental studies) and the help of qualified specialists. They will be able to make a definitive diagnosis and prescribe effective treatment if necessary.

Children's problems are perceived with the greatest trepidation, but fortunately, most often they are not serious. They consist of irrational nutrition, and for healing you just need to choose the right diet. And in good condition, just observation is enough, and after a few days the stool will recover on its own.

Proper nutrition and a healthy lifestyle are the main components of the well-being of the entire digestive system.

A person's health status can be determined by various factors. Appearance, well-being, pain and other features are important nuances in making a diagnosis. But there is another factor that people rarely pay attention to - the color of stool. It allows you to learn about the state of the internal organs responsible for metabolic processes. Today we will discuss light yellow stool.

What should the normal color of stool be?

A healthy body always has a strictly defined color of stool. It depends on many factors of digestion and food processing, so it can be used to determine the state of body functions.

Bilirubin is mainly responsible for the color of stool. This substance is contained in bile, through which it is excreted from the body along with digestive waste. Bilirubin is formed from hemoglobin, which occurs during the breakdown of red blood cells and their replacement by new cells. A healthy body regulates this function, so the rate of bilirubin excretion in it is identical, regardless of age, gender and race.

The normal color of stool, provided by bile, is brown. But its shade may vary depending on the type of diet that nourishes the body.

The following shades of feces are allowed (Table 1).

If you experience stool of a different color, you should consult a doctor. This is influenced not only by the proportion of bilirubin, but also by other factors such as internal bleeding, digestive disorders, stagnation in the intestines and the like.

The normal color of stool, regulated by the bilirubin content of bile, is brown. It has different shades, depending on the patient’s diet.

The drugs may change the color of feces. An unreasonable change in color or shade indicates disturbances in the vital processes of the body.

Find out what the color of the chair should be from the following video:

Reasons for color change

A light shade of stool is not considered healthy and indicates problems in the body. Sometimes it is caused by large consumption of dairy products, but a sudden, causeless change in color is a reason to visit a doctor.

There are several reasons for light yellow stool. This indicates a malfunction of the pancreas, liver, or problems with the digestive tract.

Read also:

The following problems are noted with such a change in waste color:

There are several reasons for light yellow stool. It can become like this due to the large amount of dairy products in the diet, which is safe for the body. In other cases, problems with the gallbladder, pancreas, or digestion may occur. Light yellow feces are a reason to visit a doctor, because this indicates significant health problems.

Gastrointestinal disorder

The causes may be diseases such as:

If the yellow color of the stool is accompanied by liquefaction, foam and an unpleasant odor, this may be a symptom of giardiasis. This condition requires immediate consultation with a doctor; it may also be accompanied by:

Video about changing the color of stool:

Hormonal disorder

The yellow color of stool while maintaining its normal consistency may be due to hormonal imbalances in the body, which can occur in both women and men. This is explained by the fact that with a lack or excessive amount of certain hormones, the peristalsis of the small and large intestines increases, therefore, food does not have time to break down normally.

Read also:

Why is stool black: what affects the color of stool

Light yellow stool color

The color of a child's stool can vary widely. A young body is not yet formed and may respond differently to changes in diet.

The child has

Minor changes in a child's stool should not worry parents; this happens everywhere. The main thing is to maintain the consistency of the stool and the absence of foam.

Light yellow baby stool is a sign of dairy products in the diet. If the diet consists of breastfeeding or milk-based infant formula, then this is a normal stool condition. This shade indicates the assimilation of mature milk.

But a change in the consistency of stool, accompanied by foam or a pungent odor, is a sign of indigestion. For breastfeeding, the normal state of stool is a homogeneous liquid, similar in thickness to sour cream. If the diet includes baby food, then the feces come out in a thick or hard form.

Light-colored stools also occur when calcium enters the body. These are the same dairy products, as well as vitamins and baby food.

But this color may also indicate the poor condition of the child. Organ dysfunction greatly changes the color of feces, which relates to the functioning of the liver, pancreas, intestines or gall bladder. This is often caused by pathologies or diseases.

Medicines also affect the color of feces. This should be taken into account if the child is undergoing drug treatment or recovery from illness.

Light yellow stool in a baby is normal and is caused by dairy products in the body. If children feel normal, then there is no need to worry about them. But this color occurs in diseases of the digestive system, gall bladder, pancreas and liver. If the child’s condition is poor, then it is necessary to urgently visit a doctor.

In adults

The causes of light yellow stool in an adult differ little from those previously listed. A large amount of dairy products, calcium, diseases of the intestines, glands or gall bladder are the main reasons for the appearance of such a color in feces.

The difference between an adult and a child here is that an adult has more diseases and problems leading to a similar change in stool.

Among the common reasons:

A change in the consistency of stool and its smell is a clear indicator of digestive disorders. But there are many other reasons that change the color of feces.

There is no point in assessing your condition on your own; only tests and a doctor’s examination will help with this.

An adult has much more reasons for the appearance of light yellow stool than a child. Various diseases, disruption of digestion and bile secretion, changes in diet and the like - all can lead to such symptoms. An accurate diagnosis can only be given by a doctor who has examined the patient and performed the necessary tests.

Blood, feces and urine are the main components of the initial diagnosis of any disease. It is their indicators that indicate the direction of the diagnostic search. The “root” of pathological processes is determined.

Other diagnostic methods - bacterial analysis, morphological studies, instrumental methods, etc., are aimed at determining the genesis of the disease, its localization and severity, helping the doctor select an effective treatment plan.

What, for example, does light-colored feces in adults and children indicate, what changes in the body does it indicate?

Processes of changing the color scheme of human feces always indicate intestinal problems. Examination of feces gives specialists the opportunity to identify any pathologies of the gastrointestinal tract.

Light-colored feces in an adult can occur due to dietary habits and excessive consumption of:

• potato and rice dishes;
• sweets, juices and confectionery products based on starch and juice of the tropical fruit tapioca;
• dairy and fermented milk products;
• dairy cream, full fat sour cream and butter
• alcoholic drinks of dubious quality.

Lightening of feces can be caused by:

• medicinal calcium containing medications;
• drugs for acid-dependent diseases (antacids);
• means that relieve diarrhea;
• X-ray contrast agent – ​​barium sulfate;
• antibiotics and drugs used in the treatment of heterogeneous diseases.

Usually, the effect of such provocative factors does not cause significant concerns or changes in well-being. After 5-6 days, having adjusted the diet and eliminated provoking factors, the stool returns to normal and acquires its usual color.

What should attract attention?

If the feces become light and dark urine appears along with it, signs of intoxication, fever or elevated temperature, the stomach swells from the accumulation of gases and there is a sharp weight loss - this cannot be ignored, since these symptoms indicate serious problems in the digestive organs.

In particular, the development of pathological processes in the liver, infectious intestinal lesions or functional disorders of the gallbladder.

Diseases that cause the appearance of light-colored stool

A number of diseases cause pathological disorders in the gastrointestinal tract as a result of which discoloration of feces occurs. These include:

1. Diffuse inflammatory diseases of the liver, due to infection with specific viruses of various hepatitis genotypes.
2. Bacterial and viral damage to the gallbladder (cholecystitis), causing impaired bile secretion.
3. Obstruction of the openings of the pancreatic ducts during pancreatitis, which can completely disrupt intrasecretory functions.
4. Enzymopathy is a violation or complete absence of the production of enzymes by the pancreas.
5. Inflammatory processes of the entire digestive tract (Crohn's disease) and intestinal flu, disrupting normal digestion.
6. Malignant formations in the gastrointestinal tract.

All this is accompanied by unpleasant symptoms:

• Formation of suppurative foci and fistulas in the intestines;
• Violation of body thermoregulation;
• Nausea and dizziness.

Sometimes bile stagnation causes abdominal pain and light-colored stools.

1) Very light color of stool can appear both due to completely harmless reasons (excess dairy and plant foods), and during various pathological processes. Usually these are problems of the liver and gallbladder.

The pathology is caused by a lack of bile secretion and its insufficient separation due to the formation of stones in the intestines. Promote its formation - dysfunction of the digestive system and disruption of the processes of natural bowel cleansing.

Very light-colored stool accompanied by unpleasant odors is evidence of a functional disorder caused by the inability of the gastrointestinal tract to completely digest fats and absorb them against the background of obstruction of the pancreatic ducts, malignant formations in the gallbladder or pancreas.

Caution should be shown when the problem is periodic or permanent. A single manifestation is most likely related to diet.

2) Light green stool In addition to a green vegetable diet or vegetarian diet, congestion in the small intestine caused by neoplasms or ulcerative lesions in its cavity contributes.

Acute inflammatory processes in the intestines lead to massive death and accumulation of white blood cells in its lumen, which acquire a light green color and smell of rot.

Feces acquire a pathological light green color due to a microbial imbalance in the large intestine or with general infectious intoxication of the gastrointestinal tract (dysbacteriosis and dysentery).

The frequent occurrence of such symptoms requires a serious examination to avoid further complications.

3) Light yellow stool. The cause of the pathology lies in pathological functional disorders in the pancreas. This is expressed in a lack of secretion of digestive enzymes, designed to ensure uninterrupted absorption and digestion of fats.

The general processes of digestion are disrupted, leading to a change in the color of normal light brown stool to a light yellow color.

Pathologies of the gallbladder and liver diseases also lead to a change in the color of feces. Failures in the processes of bile secretion are caused by bilirubin entering the gastrointestinal tract in its natural, non-oxidized form, which gives the stool a light yellow color.

This is accompanied by a more saturated color of urine and severe gas formation in the intestines caused by fermentation of its contents.

One of the reasons for the change in normal color is excess milk intake. This phenomenon can occur in children fed breast milk. Light yellow feces in a child after a year often appear after eating milk porridges and dry milk formulas.

This is not a pathology, but a normal physiological manifestation of a still incompetent pediatric gastrointestinal system.

Gray feces - when is a disease possible?

With normal light brown stool, its color is due to processed bile pigment, but its strong discoloration to a light gray color indicates a lack of bile in the intestines.

Violation of its entry into the organ is evidence of the presence of pathological changes caused by:

1. Inflammatory narrowing of the bile ducts.
2. Blockage of ducts by tumor formations.
3. Inflammatory processes in the gallbladder (with cholecystitis).
4. Inflammatory foci in the pancreas (mainly with pancreatitis).
5. Inflammatory processes affecting the entire gastrointestinal tract (Crohn's disease).
6. Tumors in the liver, gallbladder or pancreas.

The formation of light gray feces can be caused by:

• addiction to foods high in fat;
• use of barium X-ray contrast agents;
• non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs and antibiotics;
• anticoagulants and antimycotics
• some oral contraceptives.

In pregnant women, this color of stool may be the result of allergic reactions.

In most cases, the appearance of discolored feces in children is due to a not fully formed digestive system. This fact is considered a physiological property of the child’s body and should not cause concern.

In other cases, the following may serve as a provocative factor:

• improper diet of the child - fatty milk and fermented milk foods;
• excess sweets;
• long-term treatment with antibiotics, antipyretic and anti-inflammatory drugs;
• Quite often, color changes occur during the eruption of the first teeth.

Having eliminated all causative factors, the child’s bowel movements return to normal. The little man is unable to explain to his parents what is bothering him and where it hurts.

It is necessary to closely monitor the child's natural waste and pay attention to possible changes in the color of the urine. With internal problems, the urine usually becomes dark.

In children one year of age and older, light-colored stool may appear due to:

1) Rotavirus gastroenteritis. A change in the color of feces is accompanied by diarrhea, a general deterioration in health, symptoms of intoxication and fever.

In subsequent days, the color of the stool takes on a light yellow color, and on days 2-3 it becomes pale gray. Respiratory symptoms, signs of polyarthritis and enlarged lymph nodes appear.

2) Dysbacteriosis. The provoking factor is antibiotics, which cause a bacterial imbalance in the gastrointestinal tract towards an increase in pathogenic microorganisms.

A child's stool is manifested by a series of diarrhea and constipation, with the inclusion of mucus and undigested food fragments. Possible symptoms include apathy towards food, poor sleep, weight loss.

3) Focal inflammation of the liver(hepatitis). The disease can be suspected by the color of the urine; it resembles a dark beer. Symptoms include:

• light-colored stool, abdominal pain (in the upper part) and bloating;
• yellowing of the skin and outer membrane of the eye;
• apathy towards food and high temperatures;
• signs of intoxication.

The clinical picture can manifest itself in a mild form, when severe fatigue and pain in the hypochondrium are the only symptoms.

If not detected in a timely manner, the disease becomes chronic, increasing the risk of developing cirrhosis.

4) Gastrointestinal pathologies- dyskinesia of the bile ducts, bending and inflammatory pathologies of the gallbladder and pancreas. They appear as a consequence of ENT infections, scarlet fever and influenza, gastritis, as a reaction to helminthic infestation or as a consequence of an improper diet.

As a complication of the inflammatory processes of cholecystitis, a deformation of the gallbladder (kink) is formed, causing accumulation and stagnation of bile, contributing to the disruption of metabolic processes. It is complicated by the development of diabetes, decreased vascular and muscle tone, and decreased visual function.

At the slightest suspicion of internal problems, you should immediately contact a specialist. It is important to eliminate the cause in time and prevent the development of pathology.

What to do when to go to the doctor?

If there is a prolonged change in feces to a light color and there are obvious symptoms of poor health, it is imperative to go to the doctor for a consultation. As prescribed by your doctor, take the appropriate tests and undergo the necessary diagnostic examination.

Monitor the dynamics of the development of pathological processes - if the manifestation of light-colored stool in adults and children for a long time is accompanied by signs of internal diseases - the need for urgent treatment is obvious.

Information about stool (human feces) is perhaps the most important indicator of the condition gastrointestinal tract.

For many, talking about feces can cause laughter or embarrassment. But seriously, you can tell a lot about your gut health and, for that matter, your overall health by looking at the appearance of your stool.

Everything from shape, size, smell, color, can indicate illness, poor nutrition, or other gastrointestinal (GI) problems. Even the color and smell of your stool can give you clues about your overall health.

I found the best infographic on the Internet (see below) and translated it into Russian for you. It will help you better understand the health of your digestive system.

And since the average person produces 7,000-8,000kg of waste over the course of their lifetime, this should help everyone.

What your stool tells you

Feces(stool, faeces, excrement) – contents of the distal part of the large intestine, released during defecation. In a healthy person, feces is a mixture consisting of approximately 1/3 from the remains of food taken, 1/3 from the remains of the secretions of the digestive organs and 1/3 from microbes, 95% of which are dead.

The amount of feces depends on the quantity and quality of food taken. With a mixed diet that quantitatively corresponds to the body's needs, the weight of feces excreted per day is 200-300g, and according to some data, up to 900g.

The weight of feces largely depends on the water content in it, therefore, with constipation, when water absorption is increased, the weight of daily feces decreases, and with diarrhea, it increases.

A significant increase in feces is observed in diseases accompanied by the absorption of food (gastric achylia, lesions of the pancreas, etc.). A particular abundance of feces occurs with lesions of the pancreas, in which its weight can reach 1 kg.

Shape of feces

Shape of feces depends on the consistency, content of water, mucus and fat. Normal feces contain about 70-75% water, have a sausage shape and a uniform, dense composition. Dense, even hard feces, observed with constipation, lose their normal shape and usually consist of separate lumps from its long stay in the large intestines. With spastic colitis, “sheep feces” is often observed, which is small round lumps of dense consistency. Such dense feces contain about 60% water.

Changes in the shape of feces (ribbon-shaped, pencil-shaped) may depend on both organic stenosis and spastic narrowing of the sphincters. Unformed, mushy and especially liquid feces are a pathological phenomenon; they contain 90-92% water. The bowel movements may also be heterogeneous; dense lumps may float in liquid or mucus, which occurs during inflammatory processes in the large intestine.

Consistency of stool depends on a number of reasons, the main one of which is the time they remain in the large intestine. Acceleration of peristalsis leads to insufficient absorption of water, slowdown leads to excess absorption. Feces acquire a more liquid consistency than normal when the intestinal wall secretes abundant inflammatory exudate and mucus when taking saline laxatives. Feces, containing a lot of fat, have a pasty consistency.

Stool color

Stool color in a healthy person it may vary somewhat depending on the food consumed. Most often there are different shades of brown - dairy foods give a light brown, even yellow color, meat foods give a dark brown color. Plant products give stool its color, beets - red, blueberries, black currants, coffee, cocoa - dark brown to black. Some medicinal substances taken orally (for example, bismuth - black, iron preparations - greenish-black, etc.) also have a significant effect on the color of stool.

Stool color changes and in case of pathological processes in the digestive organs, there are many of these options; for example, we will give a few. If bile does not enter the intestines, the stool becomes grayish-white, clayey or sandy in color. Pancreatitis (disease of the pancreas) - also produces almost white stool. Fatty stool may be gray in color. The presence of blood in the stool gives the stool a different color depending on the location of the bleeding; if in the stomach, it is dark brown, almost black. The lower along the intestine the bleeding site is located, the less dark the color and the more red it is.

Stool smell

Stool smell depends on the presence in it of breakdown products of food residues, mainly protein, therefore, with an abundance of proteins in food, the smell intensifies. When putrefactive processes predominate in the intestines (putrefactive dyspepsia, tumor decay), feces acquire a fetid odor; during fermentation processes, it becomes sour. If food is poorly chewed, or even more so if digestion is poor, the feces may contain undigested food residues in the form of whitish or grayish lumps.

With a significant content of fat in feces, the surface of the stool acquires a peculiar slightly matte sheen and a paste-like consistency. Mucus in normal stool is present in minimal quantities in the form of a thin shiny coating covering the surface of the stool. During inflammatory processes, it may appear in the stool in the form of whitish or yellow lumps on the surface of the stool or between its fragments.