# Excrements
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/excrements/44710
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [December 9, 2000, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/excrements/44710 "2000-12-09T00:37:53Z")
**Posts on this page:** 6
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@sunrise\_4836](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sunrise_4836)
#### Post date: [December 9, 2000, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/excrements/44710/1 "2000-12-09T00:37:53Z")
Why is urine yellow and bowel movements brown? You would think the colors would change drastically since we are constantly eating and drinking different foods daily.
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### Author:  [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)
#### Post date: [December 9, 2000, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/excrements/44710/2 "2000-12-09T00:44:12Z")
Cecil covered this years ago, but the “search engine” is “down” (anyone have any proof that there actually _is_ a search engine? it never seems to work when I want to use it).
Not sure about urine, except that the minerals, etc. that the kidney filters out of your blood are not that closely tied to your diet.
Shit is brown, IIRC, because your liver filters dead red blood cells out of your blood and secretes them, as bile, into your intestine, where they color your poop. I had near liver failure once when my gall bladder blowed up and gall stones blocked my duct system, shutting down my liver. My poop was the color of oatmeal, and my pee looked like diet coke because of all the dead red blood cells the liver left it up to the kidneys to take care of.
I don’t recommend the experience.
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### Author:  [@manhattan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/manhattan)
#### Post date: [December 9, 2000, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/excrements/44710/3 "2000-12-09T00:53:09Z")
[Why is, um, fecal matter brown?](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2_381.html)
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### Author:  [@wevets](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wevets)
#### Post date: [December 9, 2000, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/excrements/44710/4 "2000-12-09T00:57:32Z")
If I’m not mistaken, urine is yellow because of urea CO(NH[sub]2[/sub])[sub]2[/sub].
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### Author:  [@KarlGauss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGauss)
#### Post date: [December 9, 2000, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/excrements/44710/5 "2000-12-09T01:58:30Z")
Actually, IIRC, urine, like poop, gets its colour because of the presence of products of red blood cell and hemoglobin breakdown (bile pigment - ?urobilinogen).
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### Author:  [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)
#### Post date: [December 9, 2000, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/excrements/44710/6 "2000-12-09T02:02:20Z")
It’s supposed to be _BROWN_??? Uh, oh…