Are Your Feces Healthy? (Part 2)
Image source
Simple observation on feces provide priceless information about your health as a whole. By carefully looking at the shape, color, texture and margin of the feces, you could diagnose your present health. The feces reflect the diet you took, your health status, and the age of your colon. Specifically, healthy feces reflect healthy colon which provide the foundation for a good health, a strong immune system and longevity.
Looking at what feces you created is just like looking at a picture that tells you thousand of words. Thinking this is degrading or embarrassing is like you are escaping yourself to face the reality. After examining your feces, ask yourself these questions as listed below:
- Why do I have these feces discharged?
- What have I eaten recently?
- What medicines have I taken lately?
- Am I stressed recently?
The healthy feces, in general, contain 80% of water, while the remaining are undigested foods and intestinal bacteria. 1g of feces contain nearly 1 trillion intestinal bacteria. For instance, in human large intestine, there are approximately 500 to 1000 different species of the intestinal bacteria. The total number of bacteria dwell in the mucous membrane of the colon together with the bacteria dwell in the feces are about 1.5kg. However, the compositions of the bacteria may vary from one individual to one another just like everyone has a different pattern of the footprint. Basically, human intestinal bacteria can be divided into 3 groups of good, bad and mild germs. When they are not in a balance ratio that they should be, our intestinal tract will age faster than our actual age. If left ignored, the colon will age to a stage that it will finally decay, and eventually it may be fatal and life-threatening. Read more details on an article entitiled “Are your feces healthy? to equip yourself with the knowledge of healthy, unhealthy feces and their related diseases.
Smelly Feces are Indicators of Diseases
The shape as well as the odor of the feces are closely linked to the presence of the number of bacteria in the intestine. Smelly feces signify the presence of the bad bacteria which are indicators of certain diseases. People who have relatively strong unbearable feces odor or those who are experiencing constipation must take note that this is an indication characterised by the presence of less good germs than bad germs in their intestinal tracts. Bad germs cause the decaying substances, in which these harmful toxins are then re-absorb by the intestine, and hence causing “explorable” diseases in humans. When the good germs are killed off, the potentially harmful germs will increase terribly. In a nutshel, good smell feces symbolize a healthy intestine, while bad smell feces are signs of an unhealthy intestine and other underlying diseases as well.
The bacteria found in the colon can be grouped into three categories based on their effect on humans as follows:
Good Germs
Good germs are living “friendly” bacteria (also known as probotics) that protect our gastrointestinal tract. Besides that, their presence are essential to inhibit the growth of harmful bacteria, boost immune system, maintance a healthy intestinal tract, promote good digestion, alter the intestinal flora balance, and increase resistance to infection. People with healthy feces are blessed with these beneficial bacteria to help fight the growth of disease-causing bacteria.
Image source -Lactobacillus salivarius Image source - Bifidobacterium bifidum
Image source - Streptococcus thermophilus Image source - Lactobacillus casei
In average, there are several trillion beneficial bacteria comprising over 400 species in the human gastrointestinal tract. These figures may sound alarming to you, but these microorganisms are crucial to good health. Lactocillus acidophilus is the most well known species of them, others include Lactobacillus salivarius/casei/rhamnosus, Bifidobacterium bifidum/longum/lactis and Streptococcus thermophilus, to name a few here. In the healthy feces, the good bacteria should outnumber the bad bacteria. Our colon can only maintain its health with at least 85% good bacteria and 15% bad bacteria. Unfortunately, most people have this percentage reversed.
Bad Germs
Image source-Clostridium
Bad germs here are “unfriendly” bacteria that produce toxic by-products that contribute to long-term sickness and chronic degeneration of the body. They occupy 20 out of 100% of the germs that dwell in the gastrointestinal tract. They are always represented by microorganisms called Clostridium. These bad bacteria do not aid in digestion and absorption of food and nutrients. Instead, they stimulate the decaying process in human intestine. They emit relatively foul odor and thus giving an unbearable smell of your feces. They are more common among the carnivoles or people whose intake in meats are higher.
Image source - C. botulinum Image source - C.tetani
Image source - C.difficile Image source - C.perfringens
These spore-forming rod microorganisms are anaerobic (some species are microaerophilic), and Gram-positive. C.tetani, C.difficile, C.perfringens, and C.botulinum are four of their clinically known species. Under the microscope, they appear as long drumsticks with a bulge located at their terminal ends. When the environment becomes extreme and stressed, these bacteria produce spores that tolerate with the extreme environments that the active bacteria cannot. They secrete powerful exotoxins that are responsible for diseases such as botulism (a rare but serious paralytic illness caused by toxins), tetanus (neurological disease or lockjaw in human) and gas gangrene (the decay of body tissues) in their active form. The released potent toxins from Clostridium could block the release of neurotransmitters from the presynaptic membrane of inhibitory interneurons of spinal cord and brainstem of mammals that regulate muscle contraction. This in turns lead to continuous muscle contraction primarily in the neck and jaw muscles (lockjaw), which if left untreated could eventually lead to respiratory failure and death. Their toxins may also attck cell membranes, causing extensive tissue damage and necrosis, which later reduces the blood supply to the afected area and thus stimulating the spread of the disease.
