www.heptune.com/poop.html
Scoop on Poop The Scoop on Poop by Brenna E Lorenz All contents copyright 1998 Brenna Lorenz, Megaera Lorenz, Malachi Pulte. Reproduction of any part of site without express permission is strictly prohibited. There are several unauthorized, plagiarized versions out there that do not give credit to this pages author, and which are incomplete. Of course, this value is highly variable - the water content of diarrhea is much higher, and the amount of water in poop that has been retained voluntarily or otherwise is lower. Water is absorbed out of fecal material as it passes through the intestine, so the longer a turd resides inside before emerging, the drier it will be. Of the remaining portion of the turd, about 1/3 is composed of dead bacteria. These microcorpses come from the intestinal garden of microorganisms that assist us in the digestion of our food. Another 1/3 of the turd mass is made of stuff that we find indigestible, like cellulose, for instance. This indigestible material is called fiber, and is useful in getting the turd to move along through the intestine, perhaps because it provides traction. The remaining portion of the turd is a mixture of fats such as cholesterol, inorganic salts like phosphates, live bacteria, dead cells and mucus from the lining of the intestine, and protein. Bacteria produce smelly, sulfur- or nitrogen-rich organic compounds such as indole, skatole, and mercaptans, and the inorganic gas hydrogen sulfide. The color comes mainly from bilirubin, a pigment that arises from the breakdown of red blood cells in the liver and bone marrow. The actual metabolic pathway of bilirubin and its byproducts in the body is very complicated, so we will simply say that a lot of it ends up in the intestine, where it is further modified by bacterial action. Iron in hemoglobin in red blood cells gives blood its red color, and iron in the waste product bilirubin gives rise to its brown color. Poop is mostly shades of brown or yellow, but other colors can arise under certain circumstances. For example, someone with a bleeding ulcer might have tarry black poop from the presence of partially digested blood. Bleeding in the intestine, from an anal fissure or split, for example, can stain the poop red. Bloody poop can also be a sign of colon cancer, so you should get it checked out by a doctor if you see blood in your stool. Some illnesses in babies gives them green or even blue-green poop. But another source of blue poop in children is more innocent: it can come from eating a concentrated source of blue food coloring such as ice cream. Sometimes brightly colored foods pass through the gut almost unchanged, and the turd may be speckled with bright red fragments such as pimentos, or bright yellow kernels of corn. Poop can also be stained red if you eat beets, according to Ellen. One can experience white poop after consuming a barium milkshake for the purposes of getting an x-ray of the upper gastrointestinal tract. It is a deficiency in the liver where red blood cells are broken down. I was informed when this was diagnosed that the broken down blood cells is what gives poop a lot of its color. People with Gilberts Syndrome dont process as many blood cells - or not as fast - and their poop tends to be pale brown or yellow from the lower quantity of discarded red blood cell matter.
Green poop can also be caused by excess iron in the diet, from dietary supplements, for example. If the body does not absorb all the iron consumed, the iron may stain the poop green, the color of iron II salts. Ordinarily, the green color may be masked by the normal brown poop color, but if digestion is thrown off by illness so that bilirubin is less concentrated in the intestine, the green color may become apparent. Green poop in sick babies may come from iron in baby formula not being properly absorbed, or by green pigments in bile salts again, green from iron. Question submitted by Sarah Beth Unlike mammals, birds dont urinate. Their kidneys extract nitrogenous wastes from the bloodstream, but instead of excreting it as urea dissolved in urine as we do, they excrete it in the form of uric acid. Uric acid has a very low solubility in water, so it emerges as a white paste. This material, as well as the output of the intestines, emerges from the birds cloaca. The cloaca is a multi-purpose hole for birds: their wastes come out of it, they have sex by putting their cloacas together, and females lay eggs out of it. These include rabbits, rodents, gorillas, many insects such as dung beetles and flies, and yes, dogs. Herbivores such as rabbits and rodents eat their own poop because their diet of plants is hard to digest efficiently, and they have to make two passes at it to get everything out of the meal. This is equivalent to a cow chewing its cud, only cows are able to re-eat their food without having to poop it out first. Another reason why animals eat poop is that poop contains vitamins produced by their intestinal bacteria. The animal is unable to absorb the vitamins through the intestinal wall, but can get at them by eating the poop. Another reason that animals such as dogs and flies eat poop is that poop contains a certain amount of protein. Dogs are particularly fond of cat poop because cat poop is high in protein. I had a friend with a dog and a cat, and he never had to clean the kitty litter. One of the main ways that diseases and parasites spread is through the consumption of food and water contaminated with feces. This happens because people dont wash their hands carefully after pooping or changing a diaper or scratching their butt. Our microbiologist here on Guam says that one dirty diaper in Tumon Bay can send the bacteria count through the ceiling. But of course, what you want to know is, are there people who eat poop on purpose ? In rare instances, people with severe developmental and psychological disorders practice pica, the consumption of non-food items, including coprophagy, the ingestion of feces. Coprophagy is also listed as an unusual sexual practice in the encyclopedia of that name. Some people who practice sexual coprophagy say that only a lovers poop is good to eat;
I have personally known only one person who ate poop on purpose, and she only did it once, when she was about four years old. When asked what poop does taste like, she replies, About like youd expect. By the way, for all of you who are wondering, the author of this page does NOT eat poop. Question submitted by Wendell Yes, you can definitely get sick from eating poop, even in minute quantities! Although urine emerges sterile from the body unless the person has an infection, poop emerges loaded with bacteria and sometimes other life forms. Many diseases, including food poisoning, cholera and typhus, are spread by fecal contamination. Many parasites, such as the notorious tapeworm, can be spread through deliberate or accidental ingestion of poop. There are some parasites, such as pinworms, who depend on people eating their own poop to keep the population up. The person scratches the itch often doing so in his sleep, procuring a small amount of fecal matter and eggs under his fingernails, and then puts his fingers in his mouth. Once the eggs are consumed, the person is infected with a new generation of pinworms. If you want to find out if you do indeed have them, get someone to gently touch around your anal area with Scotch tape while you are sleeping. Question submitted by Travis Diarrhea is caused by irritation in the intestines, resulting in the bowel passing its contents too fast for the water to be absorbed. There can be several causes, including infection by bacteria or viruses, irritation caused by unfamiliar foods, food allergies, chronic illnesses such as inflammatory bowel disease, lactose intolerance, medications, and nervousness. Do most people wipe their left-over poop standing up or while sitting on the pot, and are there gender differences? Question submitted by ICEMAN This isnt really scientific, but I did a quick survey, and everyone asked including both males and females said that they wipe sitting down.
There was even a reason provided: that sitting down ...
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