# Lemonheads, FD&C #5, and green poop. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 14, 2002, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lemonheads-fd-c-5-and-green-poop/136661 "2002-11-14T01:56:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Billy\_Rubin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/billy_rubin/32/3622_2.png) [@Billy\_Rubin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Billy_Rubin)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2002, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lemonheads-fd-c-5-and-green-poop/136661/1 "2002-11-14T01:56:56Z")
Most of this week now, I’ve been pooping green. Hey, it’s a miracle my body works at all, so every bowel movement is a good one, but the green had me a bit flummoxed. Then it dawns on me; I’ve been eating Lemonheads. One of the guys brought in a garbage bag of leftover halloween candy and it consisted predominantly of lemonheads. Yeah, I love’em, and I got a sweet tooth. Hell, I have 32 sweet teeth. So I didn’t eat any for a day and the poop returns to it’s normal state. I do a quick search to find that Lemonheads are colored with FD&C yellow #5. Turns out this stuff is a by-product of coal tar, and is apparently completely indigestable. Nice. Maybe I’ll have to try other kinds of candy with other dyes to find out what other colors of poop I can make. I do know that certain popsicles do black, dark blue. Maybe I can get something that’ll give me a bright red hue and I can alternate the lemonheads with the red-producing substance and have festive red and green poop for the holidays. I really, really need more sleep. b. ---
**Author:** ![heresiarch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/278dde/32.png) [@heresiarch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/heresiarch)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2002, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lemonheads-fd-c-5-and-green-poop/136661/2 "2002-11-14T02:51:59Z")
Here’s a fun fact: when our red blood cells break down and the hemoglobin is metabolised, [a by-product is created](http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/003479.htm), and **that** is what makes our poop brown. But you probably knew that, **Billy Rubin**. Anyway, some brands of black licorice have given me some interesting green poop. It probably contains the same FD&C yellow #5. I seem to recall that one of the Jelly-Belly jelly beans gave me purple dooky. Sorry, I can’t recall which flavor. Good luck in your experiments, and feel free NOT to post pics. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![lno](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a8b319/32.png) [@lno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lno)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2002, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lemonheads-fd-c-5-and-green-poop/136661/3 "2002-11-14T03:07:36Z")
A few years ago, I attended a Halloween party in which a friend had mixed up a drink involving crushed ice, various alcohols, and green food coloring. I liked it, and drank a bit. The party started around noon with a bbq, and went all day and far into the night. Fast forward until about three a.m. I arrive at home, dropped off by a friend, and make my way upstairs, careful not to awaken my housemates. I decide to stop off in the bathroom prior to bed. My blood-curdling shriek did awaken my housemates, wasting my careful effort in climbing the stairs silently. The forest-green bowel movement had me convinced that I was going to die, or that parasites had infected my colon, or that the Taco Bell I ate on the way home really was toxic hell. I didn’t want to die on the shitter like Elvis. No. No way would that happen. Soon I realized that the food coloring was to blame. Unfortunately, not soon enough, as said housemates were pounding on the bathroom door asking if I was okay. “Yeah, I’m just shitting green,” seemed to placate them - or at least they decided that if I were coherent enough to talk, I was capable enough to handle my own demise. I moved out a few months after that. ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2002, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lemonheads-fd-c-5-and-green-poop/136661/4 "2002-11-14T14:51:14Z")
Two weeks before St. Patrick’s Day I buy a case of Grape Soda so I can celebrate in my own special way. ---
**Author:** ![Billy\_Rubin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/billy_rubin/32/3622_2.png) [@Billy\_Rubin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Billy_Rubin)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2002, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lemonheads-fd-c-5-and-green-poop/136661/5 "2002-11-14T15:35:08Z")
I promise, no pics. Ever. b. ---
**Author:** ![Lady\_Ice](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f1d935/32.png) [@Lady\_Ice](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lady_Ice)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2002, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lemonheads-fd-c-5-and-green-poop/136661/6 "2002-11-15T00:17:30Z")
I’m glad I’m not the only one. For me, it’s Fruit Loops. And yup, it’s green. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2002, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lemonheads-fd-c-5-and-green-poop/136661/7 "2002-11-15T04:26:26Z")
My cousins and I used to eat play dough to see if it would turn our poops colors. It never worked. ---
**Author:** ![BoBettie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4af34b/32.png) [@BoBettie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BoBettie)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2002, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lemonheads-fd-c-5-and-green-poop/136661/8 "2002-11-15T04:30:39Z")
Psst: Eat a bunch of Boo-Berry cereal. BLUE. As blue as blue can be, I promise. Your welcome. ---
**Author:** ![AntaresJB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c2a13f/32.png) [@AntaresJB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AntaresJB)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2002, 8:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lemonheads-fd-c-5-and-green-poop/136661/9 "2002-11-15T08:07:28Z")
That’s odd, Guin. My cousin, when she was little, ate a bunch of green play-doh, and it came out thoroughly green on the other end. (always green, it seems…) ---
**Author:** ![iconoplast](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/3d9bf3/32.png) [@iconoplast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iconoplast)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2002, 8:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lemonheads-fd-c-5-and-green-poop/136661/10 "2002-11-15T08:53:16Z")
My dog used to eat crayons, which made her poo all sorts of lovely rainbow colors. ---
**Author:** ![Billy\_Rubin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/billy_rubin/32/3622_2.png) [@Billy\_Rubin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Billy_Rubin)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2002, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lemonheads-fd-c-5-and-green-poop/136661/11 "2002-11-15T14:24:48Z")
We had a dog would eat tinsel off the christmas tree. The little strands of tinsel would connect the little doggy turds together like a string of fecal pearls. Festive, it was, all shiny and sparkly. b.