Are Your Feces Healthy?
During defecation, feces or stool and Stercus, a residual product from the large intestine is removed from the body through the Cloaca (anus). This bodily waste consists of about 75% water, and 25% of solid matter, and this percentage may vary according to individual and the residence time of the feces in the intestine. It may also include dead bacteria (help us to digest food), fiber (undigested food debris), protein, cellular linings, salts, fats, substances released from the liver and intestines (such as mucus).
Common type of bacteria found in human feces
Human adult has approximately 100 to 250 gram (or 3 to 8 ounces) of feces expelled from the digestive system daily and the normal bowel habit is one to two times a day. Age, diet, medication, defecation habit, the number of daily defecation may reflect the nature of the feces that is closely related to our health.
Basically, the feces are very much related to diet. When we eat more vegetables, the feces can have partially green palm tree color, while eating more meat can give brown black to the color of the feces. In addition to that, eating more meat may cause strong unbearable smell of the feces, discomfort to defecate and in severe cases may cause constipation and accelerate the aging of our gastrointestinal tract. If you consume foods or liquids rich in artificial flavors or chemical, the feces may also smell worse. In fact, certain drugs and medication may also cause the change of the feces' shape, texture and color.
Are these feces healthy?
The Conditions of Healthy Feces
A renowned Japanese expert, specializing in human feces, said that we can diagnose our health condition by inspecting our own defecation color, smell and shape.
The healthy feces are usually 3 centimeter in diameter, golden yellow or brown in color, soft but not too soft like a mud. They have no strong smell or taste, with 2 to 3 pieces of feces for each bowel action. The absence of pressure is less or loose during defecation. You poop easily and comfortably without pressing or pushing too hard on the feces.
The feces should contain 70 to 80% of water content, and they should be floating on top of the water in your toilet ball. In term of hardness, the normal healthy feces should be soft and in a complete form. Normal stool should be cylindrical, modest in size and a feel of shiny texture. If the stool stays too long in our large intestine, it may appear in a granular form or too coarse.
The Conditions of Unhealthy Feces and Related Diseases
Unhealthy feces may have more than 90% of moisture content and this condition is probably caused by bacteria infection. If the feces sink, it should be alerted of the probability of getting constipation or hemorrhoids.
Long-term suffering from constipation may cause the feces becomes extremely hard. If your feces are in aqueous form, you may suffer from gastrointestinal disease. The fluid type feces may also be found in acute Enteritis (inflammation of the small intestine) and food poisoning.
Under the examination of a microscope, unhealthy feces may have parasitic infection such as roundworm, pinworm, hookworm, whip eggs, as well as parasites such as Entamoeba and Trichomonas.
Food debris, starch granules, muscle fiber, fat droplets in these feces indicates digestive dysfunction. Charcot in the feces is found more prevalent in the allergic dysentery, intestinal parasitic diseases, gastrointestinal ulcers or other allergic diseases.
Feces with Bubbles
A large amount of bubbles are observed in your feces. They may come out together with some dark brown water. This may be due to an excessive intake of sugar, diary or starch enriched foodstuff, such as rice cereal, or nursing infant cake. As for children, these feces are caused by improper carbohydrate digestion may lead to an intestinal infection.
Soup-like Feces
Too much water come out with few solid feces and this may increase the frequency of bowel habit in a day. It indicates poor defecation and it is particularly prevalent in Enteritis, diarrhea and disease autumn (feces mixed with a small amount of mucus). These soup-like feces are more commonly found in Hemorrhagic Necrotizing Enterocolitis (a condition primarily seen in premature infants, where portions of the bowel undergo necrosis or tissue death), too. Lots of water are lost and may cause dehydration in the human body if our body is not replenished with the appropriate amount of water immediately.
Mucus-like Feces
These feces are mixed with mucus and they seem like a bit sticky. They are caused by the inflammation of gastrointestinal due to the presence of protozoa such as Salmonella or Amebic colitis.
Thin and Jelly-like Feces
These feces usually come out with yellow-green mucus, and they are really looked like a jerry. This symptom is more commonly happened among the babies. As the feces are infected by fungal Enteritis, the child may also suffer from thrush which requires immediate treatment.
