Green bowl movements

[p-walk]

Have had green bowl movements for two days, yet can't think of anything green that I've eaten.

[Kevin Pho, MD]

Tough to connect any specific disease to green bowel movements.  Causes include obvious cases such as large amounts of green, leafy vegetables, green or purple artificial coloring (popsicles, Kool-Aid, gelatin). Iron supplements and rapid transit or decreased colonic transit time can also cause green stools (i.e. such as in irritable bowel syndrome).

You may want to inquire about these possibilities with your personal physician.

Followup with your personal physician is essential.

This answer is not intended as and does not substitute for medical advice - the information presented is for patient education only. Please see your personal physician for further evaluation of your individual case.

Kevin, M.D.
Medical Weblog:
kevinmd_b

[mmfd]

Licorice can cause green stools if you eat enough!!

[Fugue]

mmfd has a good point. When you consider the pigment in foods breaking down, and then consider those pigments combining - it might be something like art class where you mix a few colors to produce a new color. I would think though that this would involve foods with high levels of pigment to occur and the actual resulting stool would be affected by many different factors as pigments can change under chemical process. But, for example - take the case of ingesting iron pills. They can cause very dark stools. I wouldn't worry about it though unless you have other symptoms involving discomfort and other abnormalities. We've all had a few strange poos in our life.