What the colour, texture and quality of faeces says about your health

BEAUTY | HEALTH | FEACES 

Did you know you are as healthy as the state of your feaces and how you pass stools out? 

Doctors say one of the indicators of the body’s general health and specific bowel diseases is the quality of your faeces! 

Most of us become uncomfortable when we defecate strange looking stools or frequent the toilet. 

“It is true that you are as healthy as what you eat, but you are also as healthy as what you pass out. Your bowel movements can be the dashboard of your health,” says Dr John Boger, a renowned gastroenterologist in Pennsylvania, US. 

Bowel movement is the process through which faeces (undigested food, bacteria, mucus, and cells from the lining of the intestines) move through the bowel and out of the anus, also known as defecation. 

Dr Miria Twinomugisha, a nutritionist at China Uganda Friendship Hospital in Naguru, says it is important for everybody to monitor their bowel movements. 

“The reason is that in so doing you can determine how you stand health-wise. For instance, if you are facing difficulties having a bowel movement, it could be an indication that you are eating a lot of fast foods,” she said. 

Dr Twinomugisha also cited the lack of fruits, vegetables and fibre in diet as some of the root causes of a difficult bowel movement. 

She urges people to monitor their bowel movements by improving their nutrition habits. 

Another expert, Daniel Muwanguzi, a nutrition therapist at Nutri-Therapy Uganda, says the person’s health status and the state of their feces have a relationship. 

“The faeces we pass out have different appearance and quality at different times. Some may appear separate, hard lumps; lumpy and sausage-like; sausage-like with cracks on the surface; smooth and snake-like; soft blobs with cleanedges; and mushy with ragged edges while others are liquid with no solid pieces at all,” Muwanguzi says. 

“All these feacal appearances point to, among many factors, your diet, amount of water intake, medications you are taking, infection you have or the genetics.” He adds that it is very important to note any changes in your bowel movements and adjust your eating habits in a bid to attain your normal appearance,” he says.

Constipation 

Constipation occurs when bowel movements become less frequent and stools become difficult to pass. 

It happens most often due to changes in diet or routine, or due to inadequate intake of fibre. 

You should seek medical attention if it is accompanied by severe pain, blood in your stools, or lasts longer than three weeks. Muwanguzi explains that separate and hard lumps, as well as the lumpy and sausage-like faeces, imply that one is constipated. He explains that for high degree constipation, the faeces present in a separate, hard lump. 

But they become lumpy and sausage-like when the constipation is there but not high. 

For a low degree of constipation, they are sausage-like with cracks on the surface. 

“Normal faeces are smooth and snake-like. Sometimes they present as soft blobs with clean edges. But when they become mushy with ragged edges, it extends to the level of diarrhoea. When thy become liquid, with no solid pieces, that is diarrhoea; a medical examination should be conducted," Muwanguzi says.

Causes of constipation 

Some causes of constipation include changes to what you eat or your activities, not enough water or fibre in your diet, eating a lot of dairy products, not being active or resisting the urge to poop for some time. 

Other causes include stress, overuse of laxatives, some medications (especially strong pain drugs such as narcotics, antidepressants, and iron pills) or antacid medicines that have calcium or aluminium. 

Sometimes it is eating disorders, irritable bowel syndrome, pregnancy and problems with the nerves and muscles in your digestive system.

The reason why prolonged constipation should be medically examined is that it could be a symptom of colon cancer, neurological conditions such as Parkinson’s disease or multiple sclerosis, an underactive thyroid (called hypothyroidism) or excess calcium in your blood (hypercalcemia) due to overactive parathyroid glands, medications, cancer (lung, breast, multiple myeloma), or other causes.

Solutions 

Constipation can be a big inconvenience if it fails to stop. Dr Muwanguzi advises that when it happens, take a lot of fluids, at least one litre of water a day. 

You may also need to keep off oily foods too, he said. Paul Mujuni, a university student and resident of Banda, says he spent three days without defecating yet he was eating. 

He was advised by a doctor to drink a lot and wait for 24 hours, which is the time that a normal digestion system takes 24 for the water to aid in digestion. 

Constipation can also be eased by warm liquids, especially in the morning, adding fruits and vegetables to your diet, stopping ignoring the urge to poo and increasing exercise in most days of the week, to make your intestine muscles more active. 

Normal duration of digestion 

Doctors say the duration of digestions ranges from 24 to 72 hours depending on the kind of food. 

Dr. Saali adds that different foods take different time frames of digestion but he estimates the normal digestion the take 18 to 24 hours. 

“This assumes that you have eaten food containing enough fibre. If you don’t visit a toilet in a single day, then dangers is signalling. Failure to defecate implies that your body is retaining too much dirt that has not been excreted. This can lower your immunity and predispose your body to bacterial infections,” he says. 

Dr. Saali recommended fibre as a vital component in easing the process of digestion because of its ability to absorb moisture in the intestines. 

“When enough moisture is absorbed in the process then faeces will travel seamlessly avoiding impediments like constipation,” he explains.

Food poisoning 

This is where you eat contaminated, spoiled, or toxic food. The body reacts by the urge to expel the food, which may happen through nausea, vomiting, and diarrhoea. 

Once the toxic food is eliminated, the stool returns to its usual normal. 

So, with or without treatment, most cases of food poisoning will resolve in a day or two. 

However, when the diarrhoea lasts for more than 3 days, gets accompanied by a fever higher than 38.9°C, dizziness, bloody urine or severe dehydration, seek medical attention immediately. 

According to The Gut Health by Dr Mossi Rossi, most food poisoning can be traced to infection by bacteria, parasites, or viruses. 

These are usually found in almost all foods but heat from cooking usually kills them. 

This is why most food poisoning comes from raw food and fruits, which don’t go through the cooking process or food half cooked. The contamination can also be on the utensils that handle the food.. 

Bacterial causes of food poisoning include E. coli, Listeria monocytogenes, and Salmonella. Food poisoning by parasites include worms like tapeworms, roundworms and flukes. “Parasites can also live in your digestive tract and go undetected for years. They only become a problem when your immunity weakens. People with weakened immune systems and pregnant women are at risk of more serious side effects if certain parasites take up residence in their intestines,” says Dr Mossi. Food poisoning by viruses includes the norovirus, rotavirus and hepatitis A virus.

Infections 

Dr. Robert Kajubi, a medical doctor at Allan Galpin Health Centre at Uganda Christian University says that infection can affect your bowel system. 

“If you get a bacterial infection, your intestinal electrolytes stop being balanced which sparks off an incomplete digestion process, hence causing watery stools,” Kajubi noted. 

He however cautions people to avoid self-medication in such instances. 

“It is risky to suspect one factor when you realize a change in your stools because there could be many causes. A medical worker can help examine the root cause of the problem which goes a long way in helping to arrest the problem,” said Dr. Kajubi. 

Muwanguzi urges people to practice good feeding by taking enough water after eating food, avoiding contaminated food and also maintaining an organized food routine. 

And if a problem with your bowel movement last longer than a day, have it investigated.

Faecal colour 

Dr Twinomugisha also cites the colour of feaces as one key component in diagnosing body health from bowel movement. “The colour can show if your diet is fine or there is something lacking in it. For example, if you feed on green vegetables as part of your diet, your feaces will present with a green pigment. That should be fine. But if the faeces are reddish, unless you eat reddish food or beetroot, it could be blood,” she says. 

Dr Martin Saali, a food scientist, adds that any sign of blood in the feaces should be investigated medically. 

“It could be bleeding in the stomach, colon cancer, dysentery, or haemorrhoids. You should seek medical attention immediately,” Saali, who is the managing director of Smart foods Limited, said. The normal stool colour is brown and it can change, ranging from light yellow to brown and to almost black. This is due to the presence of bile in the stool. 

If stool is red, maroon, black, clay-coloured, pale, yellow, or green, it may signify a problem. Stool colour can change due to medication, tumour, infections like chronic pancreatitis, celiac and diarrhoea. 

However, the doctor advises, stool colour symptoms that are accompanied by other symptoms like abdominal pain and cramping, nausea, diarrhoea, weakness or dizziness should be investigated immediately.

This story is part of the CABI, SciDev.Net and Robert Bosch Stiftung Script science journalism project.