Why Is My Poop Green and What Does Green Poop Mean?

Have you ever looked in the toilet and asked yourself, why is my poop green?

If you experience green feces, it is highly unlikely to be cause for concern. What does green poop mean?

The green poop is common among babies. Newborn babies pass thick, sticky and dark green stools, termed as meconium and the breastfeeding infants pass yellow-green stools. But in adults and children, green bowel movement is quite uncommon.

So, what does it mean when your poop is green?

There are many reasons for green poop or green stool. One of the main causes for the green feces is eating more leafy green vegetables, especially high-chlorophyll plants. Other than the diet, some medications, iron supplements, antibiotics, a recent medical procedure, infections and some medical conditions may cause green stool.

What Influences Stool Color?

But before I explain more about green poop, let me explain why poop is typically brown.

Stomach Bile is a dark green to yellowish brown fluid, produced by the liver. It is stored in the gallbladder. Bile contains bile acids, bilirubin, cholesterol, water, potassium, Copper, Sodium, and other metals. It aids digestion.

Brown poop is a result of leftovers mixed with dead red blood cells (RBC) along with other waste from your digestive tract. Bile adds the darker brown color.

As bile makes its way through to the small intestine and then to the large intestine via the bile ducts, it gradually changes color from green to yellow to brown, due to acting of intestinal bacteria on the bile salts.

So usually, your poop is in brown color. If your vomit looks like greenish yellow, then you may be throwing up bile.

• Bright Red stool – It can be due to the bleeding in the lower gut or rectum.
• Black or dark brown poop – It also indicates bleeding in the upper intestine.
• Yellowish stool – It is due to the infection in your intestine.
• White or clear – It is due to the lack of bile secretion in your body
• Green Poop – Let’s see the causes below.

What Causes Green Poop?

Okay, let’s see why does your poop turn green and what does it mean when your poop is green?

There are many causes for the greenish poop.

1. Diet Practices

Passing green stool is quite natural if you consume green vegetables. The high chlorophyll content in the leafy greens makes your poop green.

The people who have a high quantity of greens in their diet or high-kale diet may pass poop that has a green color.

The Chlorophyll is a green pigment found in plants. This helps the plant to absorb energy from the sun. This pigment can turn your poop into a Green one.

But pooping green is not bad or something to worry. So eat more greens.

Foods that causes green poop

• Algae
• Blueberries
• Green food powder
• Leafy greens
• Pistachios
• Seaweed
• Spirulina
• Vegetable juice or fruit juice
• Wheatgrass
• Spinach
• Grape-flavored Pedialyte (may turn stools bright green)

Sometimes, the coloring agents in some of the foods cannot be processed properly and leaves greenish poop. Other than foods, the common things that can cause green stools are food dyes and iron supplements.

2. Medications that cause green stools

Medications are also a culprit for your bright green poop. The medications that lead to green shit are as follows.

• Indomethacin (a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug).
• Medroxyprogesterone (Depo-Provera), a contraceptive drug.
• Protein hydrolysate formula (for babies with milk or soy allergy)

3. Antibiotics

Are you taking any antibiotics or finished it recently? Then you may possibly have a bright green poop.

The antibiotics can destroy your gut’s bacteria which is responsible for brown stool. So this bacterial imbalance reduces the brown color and produces a green bowel movement.

Treatment

Take more amount of probiotics to restore and balance the intestinal bacteria. Take yogurt, kefir, Miso Soup, Tempeh, Sauerkraut, kombucha, etc.

4. Recent Medical Procedures

Some of the recent medical procedures may also result in green feces. Medical procedures such as bone marrow transplant and graft versus host disease may upset your stomach and cause green stools and diarrhea.

5. Infections

Parasitic, viral and bacterial infections can also be causing your green stool.

a. Giardiasis

Giardiasis is a parasitic infection of the small intestine that is due to the parasite is known as Giardia lamblia. It is the most common cause of parasitic gastrointestinal disease. This infection may also cause green poop in adults.

This infection spreads through contaminated water and this leads to traveler’s diarrhea.

b. Salmonella

It is the bacteria mainly causes food poisoning. This bacteria kills the good bacteria in your intestine and makes the bacterial imbalance. This it results in dark green poop. Food poisoning often results in throwing up and sometimes as throw up yellow bile.

c. Norovirus 

Norovirus is the common cause of diarrhea and vomiting. It is also termed as winter vomiting bug. This virus also disturbs the bacterial balance and causes dark green stool in adults.

Treatment

• Drink plenty of fluids to avoid dehydration.
• Get plenty of rest
• Take paracetamol for any fever or aches and pains
• Take soothing foods and anti-diarrheal medicines.

6. Diarrhea 

Diarrhea can also be the cause for green stools. It is sometimes called as green diarrhea.

If the food passes through your digestive tract too quickly (before it could be changed from green to brown), it is difficult for your liver bile to break it down properly. If your poop is bright green, this indigestion is also a cause.

Note: Stomach is a dark green to yellowish brown fluid, produced by the liver. It is stored and concentrated in the gallbladder. It aids digestion. I already covered in detail about the 10 best ways to get rid of diarrhea.

What Can I Do to Make My Green Poop Go Away?

Having bright green stool or light green poop, whatever it is all problem have a solution.

To stop your green poo and turn it into a healthy brown poo, you need to concentrate on your digestive tract organs such as gallbladder and liver.

• Avoid artificial food dyes in your diet.
• Take more amount of probiotics to restore and balance the intestinal bacteria. Take yogurt, kefir, Miso Soup, Tempeh, Sauerkraut, kombucha, etc.
• Drink a lot of fluids to stop dark green poop.
• Get plenty of rest.
• If you are suffering from pooping green diarrhea, then try these home remedies to cure it.
• Also, note that there is no harm in eating green vegetables. So do not worry about the greenish poop caused by eating those greens. Always eat more fruits and vegetables to boost your health.

In a Nutshell,

Have you ever looked in the toilet and asked yourself, why is my poop green? If you experience green feces, it is highly unlikely to be cause for concern. What does green poop mean?

The green stool is common among babies. Newborn babies may pass thick, sticky and dark green stools, termed as meconium and the breastfeeding infants may pass yellow-green stools. But in adults and children, green bowel movement is quite uncommon.

There are many reasons for green feces or green stool. One of the main causes of the green stool is eating more green vegetables, especially plants contain a high amount of chlorophyll. Other than the diet, iron supplements, antibiotics, medications, a recent medical procedure, infections and some medical conditions may cause green poop.

Try the above ways to get stop your green bowel movement. White and Green poop does not cause any harm to you. But the Bright Red stool, Black or dark brown poop, and Yellowish stool should be a serious problem.