Why is poo brown?

Y

Yes

Registered Senior Member
Why the colour brown?
My sister once got white poo and nobody knew why. What could it have been? She wasn't sick or anything, it was just white.
Another question. Is kashmir made out of goat stomaches? Somebody just said it on tv.
 
The brown colour is from bile excreted by the gall bladder. This is largely due to bilirubin, which is produced by the liver as it breaks down haemogobin in your blood.

Your sister probably wasn't producing or excreting much bile at the time, unless she ate say, lots of dairy products.
 
Aha, on tv it sounded like it were the insides of the belly they used.
 
Originally posted by tablariddim
But seriously Yes... you ever see anyone wearing a pullover made of goat stomachs? ROFLMAO:D
Click to expand...

No, that's why I got so astonished when they said that on tv. Because everything they say on tv is true...right?
 
Bilirubin is, indeed, the result of hemoglobin breakdown at the liver. The gall bladder is not involved at all (bile is green). When liver function is impaired (for example, if you have hepatitis), you become jaundiced (yellow) because you are unable to get rid of bilirubin the usual way.
 
The gall bladder is so involved in the poo colour :) It excretes bile into the small intestine, which is produced by the liver and includes conjugated bilirubin. The bilirubin is actually yellowish though, but gets modified in the intestines to stercobilin, which is brown.
 
i always thought it was due to bile until we actually made it in vitro in biochem. after much digestion of sugars, the resulting product was a brown mass resembling poo. there were the appropriate gases present as well.
 
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