OK, here is the question – and I preface it with the concept that children ask the damdest questions, and though I hate to say it, most questions they ask have an underlying grain of an almost Zen-like quality.
OK, here is the latest stumper for me and I hope that someone has an answer I can pass on.
“Why is it that we eat many colorful foods, oranges, red strawberrys, blue berries, etc – yet poop comes out pretty much the same color?”
“Where do the food colors go?”
and
“Why does poop always smell the same?” Why does it not smell like what we have eaten?
This is hard for me to click the “Submit New Thread” button, but now my curiosity overwlems me and Google is no help, so here it is . . . . . .
One of Cecil’s earliest books addressed this (though the cite above to the online Dope is just as good). That book has my favorite index entry of all time.
Funny, I remember more to that answer in the column, such as Cecil disparaging other’s wrong answers to the question, one example being that they though it was brown because when you mix all the colors of random foods together that results in the color brown.
Perhaps I’m thinking of Feldman or another Cecil-like writer.
Please do not mention those two names in the same sentence. I have two of Feldman’s books and there is no comparison. Why do clocks run clockwise indeed. :rolleyes:
(However, I do recommend Joel Achenbach’s “Why Things Are.” Though I still would not draw a direct comparison to Cecil.)
The color and hue of poop can vary somewhat. Drink some Pepto Bismol and your next poopoo will be very dark most likely. Eat more than the usual amount green foods (vegies) and the next poopoo may be significantly more greenish. These statements are based on my own personal…um… research.
I concur with **CookingWithGas ** here. I own two of Feldman’s books (Do Penguins Have Knees? and *Why do Clocks Run Clockwise?) * and 4 of Cecil’s books. I hope you used the term ‘Cecil-like’ very loosely. I am not attempting to put down Feldman, so suffice it to say that The Master is in a class by himself.
Originally Posted by woolygums
*Why does poop always smell the same?" Why does it not smell like what we have eaten?*The smell arises from bacteria that helps break down contents in the intestinal tract.
Not all pigments get digested. I once ate a lot of licorice (apparently of a cheap brand) and my next, um … experiment… came out a dark green. Not all licorice does that, though. We’ve had threads on this topic before and others reported similar effects with various foods or just food coloring. I think the key is to consume a lot of pigment so all of it doesn’t get digested.
