How to distinguish black and brown stools

The color of a person's stool can determine the health of the body. When our body is relatively healthy, the stool will be yellow or brown. Of course, the color of the stool will also be affected by diet. If you eat more green vegetables, the color of the stool may be yellow-green. If you supplement some iron, the stool will be darker. Therefore, when judging whether the body is healthy based on the color of the stool, it should also be based on the specific situation.

How to distinguish black and brown stools

The color of normal human stool is generally yellow, light brown or dark brown. Regardless of whether the stool is thick or thin, if it is black, ranging from light ink black to tar brown black, it is called black stool. Generally speaking, the appearance of black stools indicates bleeding in the upper gastrointestinal tract, which we call "real black stools."

However, some black stools are not caused by bleeding, such as after taking iron supplements for blood tonic, bismuth supplements and activated carbon powder (tablets) for treating stomach problems, certain Chinese medicines, and eating animal blood such as sheep blood and pig blood. These are not black stools caused by bleeding, we call them "false black stools".

Be careful with the following colors!

1. White greasy stool

If accompanied by large amount of stool and foul odor, it is more common in pancreatic diarrhea or gastrointestinal malabsorption syndrome.

2. Grayish white stool

It is caused by the obstruction of bile excretion, which indicates that there is obstruction in the bile duct. The patient may have diseases such as bile duct tumor, gallstone or pancreatic cancer. If grayish white stool appears after a barium meal, it is normal.

3. Green stool

When adults suffer from indigestion, intestinal dysfunction and other diseases, their stools will be green. If the green stool is mixed with pus, it indicates acute enteritis. In addition, if you eat a lot of vegetables containing chlorophyll, or the acidity in your intestines is too high, your stool will also turn green.

4. Bright red blood in stool

It is more common in lower gastrointestinal bleeding diseases, such as rectal cancer, hemorrhoids, anal tumors, intestinal tuberculosis, rectal polyps, typhoid fever, anal lacerations and local enteritis. Eating watermelon or taking certain medications, such as rifampicin and heparin phenolphthalein, can also cause red stools.

5. Reddish-brown stool

It is more common in inflammatory bowel disease and small intestinal tumors.

6. Dark yellow stool

It can be caused by hemolytic cell infection, congenital defects of red blood cells, malignant diseases and poisoning by certain chemicals or toxins. It is more common in hemolytic jaundice (jaundice caused by the destruction of a large number of red blood cells), often accompanied by hemolytic anemia.

7. Black stool

Also known as tarry stool, it is shaped like tar, soft and shiny. It is mostly upper gastrointestinal bleeding caused by various reasons, and its occult blood test is strongly positive. The black stool caused by taking drugs is dull and the occult blood test is negative.