People are food, we eat food in the mouth every day, we have to go through the esophagus, stomach, small intestine, in this journey, the decomposition of the decomposition, the absorption of the absorption, and finally those useless residues into the large intestine, where the stool shines, the stool will be and bacteria, cells, and sometimes carry germs together to be excreted out of the body.
Stool, the most indispensable, but the most ashamed of the human excrement. Few people will turn around and look at their stool after solving the problem. But in fact, stool is a very good visual indicator of the health status of the body. A quick glance back may tell you if you have a disease, or it may allow you to seek early medical attention to prevent it from happening.
The most popular and widely spread medical description of stool is the Bristol stool classification. It divides stool into seven categories.
Type 1: It is hard, in small globular pieces, each separated from the other. It is difficult to defecate.
The second type: looks like sausage, the surface is not smooth, and there are undulations.
The third type: resembles sausage, but has cracks on the surface.
The fourth kind: resembles sausage or snake, soft, with smooth surface.
The fifth kind: soft and small clumps, each separated, but with clear edges.
The sixth kind: fluffy, paste-like, with jagged edges.
Type 7: watery stools, with no solid stool at all.
This Bristow stool classification was originally used clinically to describe the shape and quality of stool, not for diagnostic purposes. However, because of the flow of information on the Internet, this classification has become widely known, leading many health-conscious non-medical professionals to the misconception that “perfect stool” is perfect and represents a healthy gastrointestinal tract.
But is this true?
This statement actually reflects an issue that is not usually talked about. Most people care and are concerned about the nature of their stool. Many people believe, without reason, that their stool looks too ugly and not healthy enough. Some people complain that their stool is too thin, too sticky, does not smell properly, or flushes the toilet with strange food, is not a complete line but in sections, has a strange color, and so on. There are also very few people who are worried because their stool is not a perfect fourth, worrying that it means something is wrong with their body, but have the shyness to seek medical help, much less talk to their family and friends.
So let’s talk about what kind of stool is healthy, which cases require prompt medical attention, and which cases mean there is a really serious problem.
A healthy adult’s stool, 80% is water, the remaining 20% of which one third is food residue, one third is intestinal bacteria, one third is the new metabolism shed intestinal mucosa. The human intestine has a large number of bacteria growth, especially in the large intestine, there are about 400 species, there are about 100 billion bacteria per gram of stool. These normal flora produce many nutrients needed by the body, such as vitamin k, folic acid, vitamin B, etc. The stability of the flora also plays a role in inhibiting foreign pathogenic bacteria.
From a few points to illustrate.
1, the human body excreted just does not look pleasant. Even if the baby is just born, it does not look as perfect as the perfect baby on the screen, and in the vast majority of cases, it is not beautiful: wrinkled and covered with mucus. But just because it’s not perfect doesn’t mean it’s not normal. The same applies to stool. Everyone’s stool may come in all sorts of shapes and colors, yellow, orange, brown, green, all sorts of things, but none of them mean it’s abnormal. Long, thin stools may simply mean that your anal sphincter is tighter, not that you have indigestion. The texture of the stool also reflects how long it stays in your intestines, and this is related to the amount of fiber in the food you eat: soft, loose stool means that there is more insoluble fiber in the food, while formed, relatively pale stool may mean that the food you eat has more soluble fiber, so the stool stays in your intestines for a shorter period of time. Hard stools mean that there is not enough fiber in the food. Many women in the physiological period may also appear stool habits and sex color changes, which are normal.
2, food can change the color of the stool. For example, corn, beets, sesame seeds, etc. Food fiber is usually not digested and absorbed by the body, so plant fiber, such as corn, tomato peel, peel fruit peel, spinach, etc., eaten will be excreted from the stool, affecting the shape and color of the stool. Seeing visible dietary fiber in your stool does not mean that you have digestive and absorption problems, and it does not mean that you have intestinal function problems. Instead of worrying about the fiber, color, and smell in your stool, think of it as the residue of the food you ate the day before.
3, if you have no pain or difficulty in passing stools, then basically your stools are normal. Don’t worry too much about whether the shape and color of the stool is “perfect” or not, the best way to judge whether the stool is healthy or not is to see if it affects your quality of life.
Can you poop easily without straining, or feeling pain or bleeding?
Do you have a normal number of bowel movements, not one that often feels full or uncomfortable in your abdomen? It is not so frequent that it interferes with your social life.
When you have the urge to poop, even if there is a queue at the public toilet, you can wait for a few minutes instead of being unable to hold it.
If you answered yes to all the above questions, then congratulations, you are basically normal. Whatever the color of your stool is yellow or brown, it is a perfect sausage shape or snake shape. The short answer is: if your stool is the same as usual, no change, and you don’t feel uncomfortable with your stool, then you have no problem. But if your answer to the above question is: no, then I’m afraid you need to adjust your diet, add some fiber, or see a doctor.
Although no one’s stool is perfect, and no one is a beauty queen for that matter, if any of the following conditions occur, it is a red light and needs attention because it may mean that something is going on.
Sudden change in bowel habits
If there is a sudden change in the regularity of going to the bathroom, the frequency, and no recent change in diet, this is usually not a good sign. For example, if your stool is usually thick and suddenly becomes very thin, you may have rectal cancer and need to see a doctor for a detailed examination. If the stool is usually once a day but suddenly becomes several times a day, you need to be alert.
Blood in stool
Blood in stool can be red, black, even shiny black, or brown. A small amount of fresh blood after a bowel movement is usually a sign of a mole, but it can also be a more serious problem, such as colitis or bowel cancer. It is best to let a medical professional determine this.
Very oily and sticky stool with a heavy smell
A flushing toilet requires several flushes to get it clean. This is because the fat content in the stool is too high, which is medically called steatorrhea, and may be due to indigestion or liver and gallbladder problems.
The stool suddenly becomes pale
Very light in color. Pale or gray stools may indicate a lack of bile production or a problem with the way bile enters the intestine. Because the color of the stool comes from the bile salts in the bile, a low production of bile salts or a blockage of the pathway from the liver into the duodenum can cause the usual yellowish-brown stool to become lighter in color, such as gallbladder infections, gallstones, parasitic infections, hepatitis, pancreatitis, cirrhosis, or possibly even a biliary tract tumor or pancreatic cancer. But sometimes if you are taking acid-suppressing medications for gastritis that contain aluminum oxide, the stool can also become lighter. The stool of people with liver and gallbladder disease can also become very oily, shiny, and strongly pungent tasting because of the inability to absorb fat.
Mucus or white mucous film in the stool
This may mean that there is inflammation in the intestinal tract, and it is also best to seek medical attention if you have constipation or diarrhea.
Green stool
Our liver is always producing bile. Bile is a bright green liquid. The liver stores bile in the gallbladder and drains it into the duodenum when needed to help with digestion. Green stool means that the stool goes through the intestines too quickly and the bile is excreted before it has time to be turned yellowish-brown by the intestinal bacteria. This is usually seen in people who have frequent diarrhea.
Pencil-thin stools
If you suddenly start to have thin stools, you need to be alert, especially if you are middle-aged, because this could be a manifestation of rectal cancer. The tumor compresses the intestinal tract, making less space for the stool to pass through and therefore becomes thin and long.
Very dark stools.
If you have not eaten a lot of black food, very dark stools are usually due to blood being acidified by gastric juice after bleeding from the upper gastrointestinal tract, and the hemoglobin becomes very dark. This is usually seen in duodenal ulcers, gastritis, gastric ulcers, esophageal varices, etc. However, black stools can also occur if there are medications taken, such as iron supplements, and if carbon is consumed.
Although we all hate to talk about poop, sometimes it is not only not abominable, it can be life-saving. In some severe cases of pseudomembranous enteritis caused by Clostridium difficile due to dysbiosis of the intestinal flora where conventional treatment has failed, a stool transplant may be used to save the life. Especially in the last 20 years, the rate of C. difficile infection has increased dramatically due to antimicrobial abuse, and many patients have recurrent episodes after treatment. These people are suffering from dysbiosis because the normal intestinal flora is killed by the abused antimicrobial agents. That’s why rebuilding the intestinal flora is so effective. The most direct and easiest way to do this is a stool transplant. The Mayo Clinic in the United States first used a patient’s brother’s stool transplant in 2011 and the patient was discharged after 24 hours. Since then many hospitals have started doing stool transplants and the results have been very good. So, don’t you have to be impressed with this waste that everyone hates?