Firstly the color of a bowel movement generally is due to the color of the food eaten and secondly the state of the bile prepared by the liver. Normal color of bile is green and after proper digestive process, it turns to brown. This process of digesting takes time and if the digestion process is not completed, and the food is moving faster than the normal process, through the intestines, there is less time for the bile to be chemically changed. Therefore, it will remain green when excreted from the body.
Generally, the green bowel movement is not a cause for alarm. There can be many reasons of green stools. The first and most obvious cause is eating green foods. A person who predominantly consumes green, leafy vegetables contain chlorophyll in his meal, it is normal that he might have Green Bowel Movement.
Iron-rich foods like enriched breakfast cereals, red meat, spinach, beans, etc. and foods with dark purple coloring like Artificial colors, used in ice creams, soda, fruit juices, or other drinks, Black licorice, vegetable mashes; leafy vegetables like broccoli, lettuce, spinach, cabbage, Cereals, milk products, sweets. Kool-Aid, popsicles, and gelatin (Jell-O) can also lead to rainbow-colored stools.
In infants, the color of stool is green in first days just after delivery, and later due to breastfeeding. Some baby formulas can also result in a green colored infant stool.
Children on clear-liquid "starvation diet" during illness may have cause green watery stools.
Some medications and supplements that have been artificially colored when taken by mouth, like Iron supplements, Laxatives (because of shortened bowel transit time), Algae, Chlorophyll, Children syrup, Vitamins /mineral supplements, or eventually any other medication or if it contains fructose or sorbitol, that may speed up peristalsis may give green color to stools.
Diarrhea and loose bowel movements: There might be many reasons of loose bowel movements, including food poisoning (giardia and salmonella infection often resulting in green diarrhea), rotavirus infection, food allergies, lactose intolerance, fructose malabsorption, celiac disease, Crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis, etc., GERD, Thyrotoxicosis (elevated levels of hormone thyroxine in the blood), usually due to autoimmune thyroid disorder (Grave's disease)
Impaired gut innervation(often in diabetes).
Bile salts are absorbed into blood mainly IN last part of small intestine (terminal ileum). Causes of impaired bile re-absorption are:
- Inflammation of small intestine, mainly due to Crohn's disease
- Surgical removal of terminal ileum
Green bowel movements, if alone without any of the following reasons, are normal, and don't require any action. If other symptoms like fever, diarrhea, constipation, weight loss, or general malaise are found, you should contact a doctor immediately, because there might be a serious underlying disorder.
P.S.
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