# Why does everyone's excrements smell the same? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 4, 2014, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-everyones-excrements-smell-the-same/706308 "2014-12-04T12:51:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2014, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-everyones-excrements-smell-the-same/706308/41 "2014-12-06T19:19:09Z")
Move somewhere where the food is radically different from what people around you now generally eat. Talk about shit stinking… During the Vietnam war, SF types who were going on extended recon would sometimes eat Vietnamese food for a while in advamce of the mission and while on recon. They didn’t want to be discovered operating in an area by enemies noting the different smell and color of feces produced from American rations. ---
**Author:** ![Duke\_of\_York](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f6c823/32.png) [@Duke\_of\_York](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke_of_York)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2014, 9:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-everyones-excrements-smell-the-same/706308/42 "2014-12-07T09:41:39Z")
The worst place for stinking shit is Airport toilets. Every time I have used an airport loo the stink was overwhelming. ---
**Author:** ![GrumpyBunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bc8723/32.png) [@GrumpyBunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrumpyBunny)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2014, 11:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-everyones-excrements-smell-the-same/706308/43 "2014-12-07T11:14:59Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > Females poop? > > I’m guessing it’s pink and smells like roses and bubble gum. [It depends on what kind of poo-pourri you order, really.](http://www.poopourri.com/product-cat/all/) ---
**Author:** ![Mona\_Lisa\_Simpson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ce7236/32.png) [@Mona\_Lisa\_Simpson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mona_Lisa_Simpson)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2014, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-everyones-excrements-smell-the-same/706308/44 "2014-12-09T21:16:05Z")
> [@ZenBeam](#): > > Just to be clear, since you seem to be our resident feces expert :): Apart from asparagus and disease, is the difference in odor of a person’s feces almost all due to differences in their diet, or are there still significant person to person differences even for healthy people with the same diet? Wow, I always wanted to be an expert in something other than my own navel lint. :). I haven’t personally experienced much “healthy adult shit” because well, in general healthy adults don’t need a nurse to help them after they poop. But diet would be the main thing, but I think metabolism, activity level. etc also helps. Medication, too, either it affects the stool or it affedts the ability to produce stool, this definitely changes smell. People who have gallbladder issues and can’t digest fats are going to have different smells, and hydration or lack of will affect smell and texture of the poop. ---
**Author:** ![Mona\_Lisa\_Simpson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ce7236/32.png) [@Mona\_Lisa\_Simpson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mona_Lisa_Simpson)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2014, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-everyones-excrements-smell-the-same/706308/45 "2014-12-09T21:18:18Z")
And then there was the shit ball art left on my toilet seat by a band that crashed at my house. ---
**Author:** ![GrumpyBunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bc8723/32.png) [@GrumpyBunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrumpyBunny)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2014, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-everyones-excrements-smell-the-same/706308/46 "2014-12-09T22:16:07Z")
> [@Mona\_Lisa\_Simpson](#): > > Wow, I always wanted to be an expert in something other than my own navel lint. :). I haven’t personally experienced much “healthy adult shit” because well, in general healthy adults don’t need a nurse to help them after they poop. But diet would be the main thing, but I think metabolism, activity level. etc also helps. Medication, too, either it affects the stool or it affedts the ability to produce stool, this definitely changes smell. People who have gallbladder issues and can’t digest fats are going to have different smells, and hydration or lack of will affect smell and texture of the poop. And fat blockers (such as Ally)…yeah, that can get interesting. Especially after eating Mexican food. (Scared the cat out of the loo after a night of margaritas and Mexican food back in the Fen-Phen days of the 90s). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-everyones-excrements-smell-the-same/706308.md?page=2)