what gives poop its color?

[RIGorous1]

I know the phrase "you are what you eat", but what is the governing force that makes poo brown or green or red? How about a rainbow effect?😕:disgust:

Like when I eat say purple jello and ramen why does it still come out brown? Or if I eat white bread with cream chease? Why brown? Why the funky colors?

 

[Eli]

I have actually read the answer to this before, but I can't quite remember what it is...

 

[ScrapSilicon]

paddy comin' ..😉

 

[Ameesh]

Originally posted by: ScrapSilicon
paddy comin' ..😉

i dont see any irish people?

 

[Orsorum]

Small flecks of rust.

 

[waylman]

Red blood cells are continually being broken down and replaced. The main byproduct of this process is called bilirubin, which is (specifically) a breakdown product of haemoglobin, the molecule in red blood cells that carries oxygen. Bilirubin (like many other biochemical wastes) is dumped by the liver into the large intestine via the gall bladder. Stuff that the gall bladder secretes (including bilirubin) is called 'bile', and it is the characteristic colour of bile (the main component of which is bilirubin) that gives faeces its typical colour. Without bile, faeces would probably be the colour of vomit, as you might expect (but not really like to think about).

As you might expect, faeces can change colour in sickness.

 

[Spooner]

That's Actually an interesting question 😛

 

[ddjkdg]

"The color comes mainly from bilirubin, a pigment that arises from the breakdown of red blood cells in the liver and bone marrow. The actual metabolic pathway of bilirubin and its byproducts in the body is very complicated, so we will simply say that a lot of it ends up in the intestine, where it is further modified by bacterial action. But the color itself comes from iron. Iron in hemoglobin in red blood cells gives blood its red color, and iron in the waste product bilirubin gives rise to its brown color.

Poop is mostly shades of brown or yellow, but other colors can arise under certain circumstances. For example, someone with a bleeding ulcer might have tarry black poop from the presence of partially digested blood. Bleeding in the intestine, from an anal fissure or split, for example, can stain the poop red. Some illnesses in babies gives them green or even blue-green poop. But another source of blue poop in children is more innocent: it can come from eating a concentrated source of blue food coloring such as ice cream. Intense red food coloring can produce bright red poop. Sometimes brightly colored foods pass through the gut almost unchanged, and the poop may be speckled with bright red fragments such as pimentos, or bright yellow kernels of corn."

From http://www.plumbingworld.com/pooponpoop.html