# Floating poop, healthy diet? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 2, 2001, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/floating-poop-healthy-diet/52803 "2001-02-02T02:04:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![IBBen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/85f322/32.png) [@IBBen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IBBen)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2001, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/floating-poop-healthy-diet/52803/1 "2001-02-02T02:04:44Z")
Sorry, floating feces just didn’t have the impact that I was looking for in a title. I heard once that if your turds float, it is an idicator that you are eating a balanced and healthy diet. If they sink (or become the proverbial “Ghost Poop” and disappear completely) you are eating crap (pun intended) Perhaps there is a Nobel prize here. What causes bouyant defecation? ---
**Author:** ![Yeah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/dbc845/32.png) [@Yeah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yeah)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2001, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/floating-poop-healthy-diet/52803/2 "2001-02-02T02:08:09Z")
Unabsorbed fats. It can be a sign of liver disease. ---
**Author:** ![KarlGauss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karlgauss/32/3713_2.png) [@KarlGauss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGauss)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2001, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/floating-poop-healthy-diet/52803/3 "2001-02-02T02:13:03Z")
We teach, and were taught, that floating poop means one of two things: 1. gas in the stool 2. fat in the stool Now, gas in the stool may reflect the presence of healthy, but gas-promoting foods like certain vegetables and beans. In this way, it _may_ be a good thing. Conversely, stool that’s dense (and sinks) may indicate that it sat around a long time in the colon (where the moisture in it was reabsorbed into the body). That’s likely a bad thing because the longer it sits in your colon, the longer your colon’s been exposed to nasty chemicals that were meant for excretion. Fat in the stool is bad news. One other way to tell if there’s fat in the stool is to ask: Do people refuse to use the toilet after you’ve been there (unless they wearing a gas mask)? The smell of undisgested fat is quite overpowering. ---
**Author:** ![KarlGauss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karlgauss/32/3713_2.png) [@KarlGauss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGauss)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2001, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/floating-poop-healthy-diet/52803/4 "2001-02-02T02:16:35Z")
I should have mentioned that the reason that fat in the stool is bad is because it indicates a (potentially serious) problem with digestion. ---
**Author:** ![pantom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/34f0e0/32.png) [@pantom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pantom)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2001, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/floating-poop-healthy-diet/52803/5 "2001-02-02T03:18:58Z")
just exactly what does fat in the stool mean, digestion-wise? ---
**Author:** ![KarlGauss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karlgauss/32/3713_2.png) [@KarlGauss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGauss)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2001, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/floating-poop-healthy-diet/52803/6 "2001-02-02T03:46:03Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by pantom \* > \*\*just exactly what does fat in the stool mean, digestion-wise? \*\* Well, it usually means there’s a problem with digesting and/or absorbing fat. Some potential causes: 1. pancreas disease - the pancreas makes enzymes that are required to digest fat. If there’s enough damage or disease in the pancreas, then insufficient amount of these enzymes are produced. 2. certain forms of liver disease ( **not hepatitis** ) - if there’s a blockage of the flow of bile out from the liver so that it can’t get into the intestine, the absorption of fats (especially ‘fat-soluble’ vitamins like A, D, and K) may be impaired. Bile is needed to help prepare the fat-soluble vitamins for absorption. 3. diffuse disease of the small intestine - the small intestine is where most everything is absorbed. If it’s damaged or diseased, then many things, including fat, may be malabsorbed. Usually, people who have a problem with fat malabsorption are obviously underweight and ill looking. There are exceptions, of course. ---
**Author:** ![pantom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/34f0e0/32.png) [@pantom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pantom)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2001, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/floating-poop-healthy-diet/52803/7 "2001-02-02T04:14:10Z")
Thanks for the info. May have to have myself checked out, based on what you say. ---
**Author:** ![DAVEW0071](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e19b73/32.png) [@DAVEW0071](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DAVEW0071)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2001, 12:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/floating-poop-healthy-diet/52803/8 "2001-02-02T12:23:36Z")
Even thought the OP has been answered scientifically, I’d like to point out an observation from the logical standpoint. When our kids were toilet training age, I noticed that their movements invariably sank to the bottom of the bowl. As parents, we were more inclined to insist that our children ate healthy, balanced meals, and they were always given clean bills of health from their pediatrician. I know this is incomplete, but perhaps it’s another brick in the foundation of evidence. ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2001, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/floating-poop-healthy-diet/52803/9 "2001-02-02T15:45:38Z")
\*\*UGH!!! Who looks at thier poop?!?!?!?! \*\* ---
**Author:** ![Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/96bed5/32.png) [@Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patty_O_Furniture)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2001, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/floating-poop-healthy-diet/52803/10 "2001-02-02T17:35:11Z")
> [@](#): > > Who looks at thier\*(sic)\* poop? Anybody who is concerned about their general state of health should be looking at it. Fot that matter you should also be looking at your urine. If you have black, tarry stools or blood in your stools, you’ll want to know about it **now** , not six months from now when you’re diagnosed with colorectal cancer. ---
**Author:** ![bernse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a9a28c/32.png) [@bernse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bernse)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2001, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/floating-poop-healthy-diet/52803/11 "2001-02-02T17:55:33Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Zebra \* > \*\*\*\*UGH!!! > Who looks at thier poop?!?!?!?! > > * * * Everyone should for reasons already mentioned. Besides, if you aren’t looking at the can how can you be **sure** when you wipe your ass the used toilet paper is going into the bowl? Man, I would hate to clean the bathroom at your house. Yech. ---
**Author:** ![Wonko\_The\_Sane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/258eb7/32.png) [@Wonko\_The\_Sane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wonko_The_Sane)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2001, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/floating-poop-healthy-diet/52803/12 "2001-02-03T04:37:33Z")
Corn. ---
**Author:** ![IMATION](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/7ab992/32.png) [@IMATION](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IMATION)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2001, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/floating-poop-healthy-diet/52803/13 "2001-02-03T04:42:10Z")
What are the battle ships? And if your ‘poop’ are the bombs, they have to be heavy enough to put a whole in the hull,… right?? - It just doesnt add up \* ---
**Author:** ![grdnsnk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/278dde/32.png) [@grdnsnk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grdnsnk)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2001, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/floating-poop-healthy-diet/52803/14 "2001-02-03T15:48:44Z")
My friend Steve was feeling poorly for a long time (I think it was those 16 hours days myself) when his Mexican mother-in-law gave him some advice; eat more vegetables and less meat. She explains; a dog eats meat, a cow eats grass & hay. The dogs strains to poop and the cow doesn’t. Health advice direct to you from south-of-the-border! ---
**Author:** ![Napier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Napier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Napier)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2001, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/floating-poop-healthy-diet/52803/15 "2001-02-03T22:24:58Z")
I read there’s an old doctor’s expression for the typical gall bladder patient: a 7 F’er. The reason is that they are a fat fortyish female with foul floating frothy feces. That fits with an earlier posting about blockage of the bile.