Why is poop brown?

B

Bill Marsh

Joined
Mar 26, 2002
Messages
1,861
You know, I LOVE what Sparks has done with splitting the Forum and giving us a place to ask strange questions without having to post "OT" in front of everything.

OK, here is the question -- and I preface it with the concept that children ask the damdest questions, and though I hate to say it, most questions they ask have an underlying grain of an almost Zen-like quality.

OK, here is the latest stumper for me and I hope that someone has an answer I can pass on.

"Why is it that we eat many colorful foods, oranges, red strawberrys, blue berries, etc -- yet poop comes out pretty much the same color?"

"Where do the food colors go?"

and

"Why does poop always smell the same?" Why does it not smell like what we have eaten?

This is hard for me to click the "Submit New Thread" button, but now my curiosity overwlems me and Google is no help, so here it is . . . . . .
 
It mostly smells and looks the same because poop (and pee) are waste products. They're made up of whatever your body can't process, which doesn't change. So no matter what you eat, it'll always come out more or less the same.
 
Kazeryu said:
It mostly smells and looks the same because poop (and pee) are waste products. They're made up of whatever your body can't process, which doesn't change. So no matter what you eat, it'll always come out more or less the same.
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This makes sense, but the additional question is "What happens to all the food colors?"

Kids questions can be really irritating. Especially when you can't shake your mind from going over and over. Like a tune you can't get out of your head.

Here's another kid question (from a 4 YO). "Daddy, where did I come from?" Answer that one!

Or, when they walk in on you and their mother while you are involved in a private, intimate, spirtual/physical manner and they say, "What are you doing to my Mother?"

Well, NOTHING --- now!
 
I think it's because many of the color pigments are lost with oxidation and the action of acid in the stomach. Also, mixing colors tends to brown or grey.

Earth is brown too.

munk
 
It kind of scares me that I know the answer to this one.:eek:

from Wikipedia:

Bilirubin is essentially a waste product, formed when red blood cells die and hemoglobin is broken down. Haemoglobin is broken down within the macrophages to haem and globins; the haem is further degraded to Fe2+, carbon monoxide and bilirubin via the intermediate compound biliverdin. Since bilirubin is poorly soluble in water, it is carried to the liver bound to albumin. Bilirubin is made water soluble in the liver by conjugation with uridine diphosphoglucuronic acid or UDPGA. As part of bile, the soluble or "conjugated" bilirubin then passes through the common bile duct and is either temporarily stored in the gallbladder or passes right away into the gut. Some of the excreted bilirubin may be reabsorbed from the gut (entero-hepatic circulation). Bacteria in the intestines modify bilirubin to form stercobilinogen, causing the brown color of feces. The yellow colour of urine is a result of urobilin, another breakdown product of bilirubin.

In diseases where too much haemoglobin is broken down or the removal of bilirubin does not function properly, the accumulating bilirubin in the body causes jaundice.
 
Well, that sinks my ship.

Bacteria eh?

I'm sure the designer crowd will do something about this someday- day glow colors for the elite.


munk
 
Your poop is brown??? :eek: :eek: :eek:

You'd better see a doctor quick. :D
 
Bill Marsh said:
Here's another kid question (from a 4 YO). "Daddy, where did I come from?" Answer that one!

Or, when they walk in on you and their mother while you are involved in a private, intimate, spirtual/physical manner and they say, "What are you doing to my Mother?"
Click to expand...

I've already gotten two canned lines.

"The Soda Fountain"

and

"We were Wrestling, and Daddy won again!"

My poor daughter
 
ferguson said:
It kind of scares me that I know the answer to this one.:eek:

from Wikipedia:

Bilirubin is essentially a waste product, formed when red blood cells die and hemoglobin is broken down. Haemoglobin is broken down within the macrophages to haem and globins; the haem is further degraded to Fe2+, carbon monoxide and bilirubin via the intermediate compound biliverdin. Since bilirubin is poorly soluble in water, it is carried to the liver bound to albumin. Bilirubin is made water soluble in the liver by conjugation with uridine diphosphoglucuronic acid or UDPGA. As part of bile, the soluble or "conjugated" bilirubin then passes through the common bile duct and is either temporarily stored in the gallbladder or passes right away into the gut. Some of the excreted bilirubin may be reabsorbed from the gut (entero-hepatic circulation). Bacteria in the intestines modify bilirubin to form stercobilinogen, causing the brown color of feces. The yellow colour of urine is a result of urobilin, another breakdown product of bilirubin.

In diseases where too much haemoglobin is broken down or the removal of bilirubin does not function properly, the accumulating bilirubin in the body causes jaundice.
Click to expand...


Thank you again Steve.

However to me this is a waste of a perfectly good explanation.

Did you say, "Over my head," Munk? Mine too.

Ummm before Bruise jumps in, are we saying that poop is over our heads?
 
Ummm before Bruise jumps in, are we saying that poop is over our heads?>>> Bill Marsh

I don't know. But if this thread takes off and gets more posts than the Ninja Stuff thread next to it, where we are speaking of God and Godly matters, it will tell us something about ourselves and our priorities.

This reviewer admits to a certain satisfaction, an awareness of balance, if you'll allow, to both Poop and God seriously considered.

I think God would appreciate the relevance.

And of course, what does this have to do with Khukuris?

Why...everything,


munk
 
munk said:
Ummm before Bruise jumps in, are we saying that poop is over our heads?>>> Bill Marsh

I don't know. But if this thread takes off and gets more posts than the Ninja Stuff thread next to it, where we are speaking of God and Godly matters, it will tell us something about ourselves and our priorities.

This reviewer admits to a certain satisfaction, an awareness of balance, if you'll allow, to both Poop and God seriously considered.

I think God would appreciate the relevance.

And of course, what does this have to do with Khukuris?

Why...everything,


munk
Click to expand...


Munk,

Actually you are very close in the study of God and Poop. One "e" difference!

Scatology -- The study of fecal excrement, as in medicine, paleontology, or biology. 2a. An obsession with excrement or excretory functions. b. The psychiatric study of such an obsession.

Escatology -- 1. The branch of theology that is concerned with the end of the world or of humankind. 2. A belief or a doctrine concerning the ultimate or final things, such as death, the destiny of humanity, the Second Coming, or the Last Judgment.

The words are very similar.
 
Does smoker's poop smell like the brand of cigarettes they smoke? It is a substance the body can't use and has to be somewhat eliminated from the system. :confused:
 
Actually you are very close in the study of God and Poop. One "e" difference!

Scatology -- The study of fecal excrement, as in medicine, paleontology, or biology. 2a. An obsession with excrement or excretory functions. b. The psychiatric study of such an obsession.

Escatology -- 1. The branch of theology that is concerned with the end of the world or of humankind. 2. A belief or a doctrine concerning the ultimate or final things, such as death, the destiny of humanity, the Second Coming, or the Last Judgment.

The words are very similar.
Click to expand...

Outstanding:D That reached in and tickled my brain, thank you!
 
[Does smoker's poop smell like the brand of cigarettes they smoke? It is a substance the body can't use and has to be somewhat eliminated from the system/QUOTE]

and Bruise stumbles onto the chief reason Crime Scene Investigation squads have such high turnover.....:barf: :D
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