# What other foods have coloring like beets? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 1, 2006, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-other-foods-have-coloring-like-beets/374846 "2006-10-01T16:45:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2006, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-other-foods-have-coloring-like-beets/374846/1 "2006-10-01T16:45:41Z")
Beets make your poop red. Does anything else do this? I’d like to know before I eat reddish snack food or something and have a heart attack from thinking I’ve got “internal issues”… ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2006, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-other-foods-have-coloring-like-beets/374846/2 "2006-10-01T17:14:49Z")
If there is something else that does this, it’s pretty uncommon. [Beet pigments:](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beets#Beetroot_color) > [@](#): > > It is a popular misconception that the color of red beetroot is due to a pigment known as anthocyanin which is the pigment in red cabbage. It is, in fact, due to a purple pigment betacyanin and a yellow pigment betaxanthin known collectively as betalins. [Betalins:](http://www.msu.edu/course/bot/418/Chemistry.html) > [@](#): > > Betalins > Red and yellow pigments with a nitrogens fixed in rings. > Function in attracting pollinators, absorbing UV radiation, and deterring herbivory. > Betalins are found only in some members of the Caryophyllales. And back to Wikipedia for [Caryophyllales:](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caryophyllales) > [@](#): > > As circumscribed by the APG II system (2003), this order includes well-known plants like cacti, carnations, spinach, beet, rhubarb, sundews, and bougainvillea. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2006, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-other-foods-have-coloring-like-beets/374846/3 "2006-10-01T23:11:42Z")
[QUOTE=Love Rhombus] before I eat reddish snack food or something and have a heart attack from thinking I’ve got “internal issues”… [/QUOTE] If the “internal issues” you’re thinking of are intestinal bleeding, that causes your poop to turn black, not red. If you see red (and haven’t been eating beets or similar), it is most likely from hemmeroids. ---
**Author:** ![Mathochist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c89c15/32.png) [@Mathochist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mathochist)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2006, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-other-foods-have-coloring-like-beets/374846/4 "2006-10-02T00:03:40Z")
[QUOTE=Love Rhombus] Beets make your poop red. Does anything else do this? I’d like to know before I eat reddish snack food or something and have a heart attack from thinking I’ve got “internal issues”… [/QUOTE] Carotene will do it. A while back there was a young woman who ate basically nothing but carrots and yellow squash for a month to see if it would really turn her skin orange. It did, and unexpectedly her.. waste.. as well. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2006, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-other-foods-have-coloring-like-beets/374846/5 "2006-10-02T00:58:40Z")
Drinking a bunch of grape Gatorade will yield an unpleasant purple surprise the next day. ---
**Author:** ![parsnip](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/parsnip/32/4564_2.png) [@parsnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/parsnip)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2006, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-other-foods-have-coloring-like-beets/374846/6 "2006-10-02T01:43:39Z")
[QUOTE=Shagnasty] Drinking a bunch of grape Gatorade will yield an unpleasant purple surprise the next day. [/QUOTE] Buzz Lightyear cereal (don’t ask–it was a sample in the mail) terrified my young son. It was purple output, but the input (flying saucers) were green. ---
**Author:** ![picunurse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7bcc69/32.png) [@picunurse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picunurse)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2006, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-other-foods-have-coloring-like-beets/374846/7 "2006-10-02T01:48:50Z")
[QUOTE=t-bonham@scc.net] If the “internal issues” you’re thinking of are intestinal bleeding, that causes your poop to turn black, not red. If you see red (and haven’t been eating beets or similar), it is most likely from hemmeroids. [/QUOTE] Not necessarily. Colon cancer can cause red blood. Black or “tary” stools are from upper GI (stomach and/or small intestine) blood that has been partially digested. ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2006, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-other-foods-have-coloring-like-beets/374846/8 "2006-10-02T02:24:57Z")
Red stools can be caused by tomato soup or juice, beets or red dye found in gelatin, Kool-Aid or cake recipes which cost $100,000. The differential diagnosis for red stools (hematochezia) also includes hemmorhoids – but also anal fissure, angiodysplasia, colon cancer, Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis, etc. IN ELDERLY PEOPLE BLEEDING IS CANCER UNTIL PROVEN OTHERWISE. Black, tarry stool (melena) is more often due to “upper GI bleeding” (above the ligament of Trietz of the duodenum) such as stomach or duodenal ulcer, esophageal bleeding, gastritis, etc. But there are lots of cases where the colour of blood is not reliable for determining the source of bleeding, so cuidado. ---
**Author:** ![urban1a](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/e47c2d/32.png) [@urban1a](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/urban1a)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2006, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-other-foods-have-coloring-like-beets/374846/9 "2006-10-02T03:13:51Z")
[QUOTE=t-bonham@scc.net] If the “internal issues” you’re thinking of are intestinal bleeding, that causes your poop to turn black, not red. If you see red (and haven’t been eating beets or similar), it is most likely from hemmeroids. [/QUOTE] Polyps too. Bob ---
**Author:** ![TheLoadedDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@TheLoadedDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheLoadedDog)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2006, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-other-foods-have-coloring-like-beets/374846/10 "2006-10-02T03:19:44Z")
I dropped a bright green one as a kid. It was from some sort of sugary drink. I was dead proud! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2006, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-other-foods-have-coloring-like-beets/374846/11 "2006-10-02T04:40:32Z")
[QUOTE=Love Rhombus] Beets make your poop red. Does anything else do this? I’d like to know before I eat reddish snack food or something and have a heart attack from thinking I’ve got “internal issues”… [/QUOTE] Don’t worry, if your poop is red it’s most likely not ‘internal issues,’ it’s probably rectal bleeding.