Seeing green stool in the toilet bowl can be alarming, but it’s often less serious than it seems. According to the Mayo Clinic, the color of your stool is influenced by what you eat, how your digestive system functions, and how quickly food moves through your gut. Green stool, while unusual, can be a result of several harmless or health-related factors.
Common Causes of Green Stool
- Dietary Choices:
- Eating green, leafy vegetables like spinach or foods with green food coloring can easily turn your stool green.
- Iron supplements may also be a culprit.
- Bile and Digestion:
- Bile, a digestive fluid, is naturally green. As food moves through your digestive tract, bile usually changes color to brown. However, if food moves too quickly through the intestines—such as with diarrhea—it may not break down fully, leaving stool green.
- Infections or Medical Conditions:
- Gastrointestinal infections, such as those caused by bacteria or parasites, can speed up digestion, leading to green stool.
- Conditions like irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) or celiac disease may also cause similar symptoms.
When to See a Doctor
The Mayo Clinic says, while green stool is often harmless and temporary, persistent changes, especially when accompanied by diarrhea, abdominal pain, or blood in the stool, should not be ignored. These symptoms could indicate an infection, malabsorption, or another underlying condition requiring medical attention.
Faex Health Makes Gut Monitoring Simple
Tracking your stool’s color, shape, and consistency can provide important clues about your health, but who has time to analyze every trip to the bathroom? That’s where Faex Health comes in. With one simple photo, Faex Health evaluates your stool for color changes, such as green stool, and provides instant insights. It can even help you determine whether dietary factors, fast digestion, or something more serious is behind the change.
Your gut is always sending you signals—Faex Health makes it easy to understand them. Stay informed, stay healthy, and let Faex Health take the guesswork out of gut health.
