What your poop says about your health
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.
http://www.punchng.com/healthwise/what-your-poop-says-about-your-health/
Culled from Punch
Comments
Post a Comment