11 Icky but Interesting Facts About Poop
Health ConditionsDigestive Health

11 Icky but Interesting Facts About Poop

11 Icky but Interesting Facts About Poop
Canva
By
Updated on December 14, 2025
by

Let’s talk about poop. Sure, it’s not exactly a dinner-party topic, but it’s important to learn all you can about bowel movements — what’s normal, what’s healthy, what’s not.

That’s because your poop (stool) is an important clue to your overall digestion and health.

Your poop can reveal serious signs of infection, digestive problems, and even early signs of cancer, according to Anish Sheth, MD, a gastroenterologist at Penn Medicine Princeton Health in Plainsboro, New Jersey, and the coauthor of the books What’s Your Poo Telling You? and What’s My Pee Telling Me?

Take a look at these facts about poop, and then pay attention to how often you go, how long it takes, and what the result looks and, yes, smells like. Simply put: Know your poop.

1. What Is Poop Made Of?

Water makes up about 75 percent of your stool. The rest is a combination of undigested food, inorganic substances like iron phosphate, cholesterol and fats, and protein.

Soluble fiber found in foods like beans and nuts is broken down during digestion and forms a gel-like substance that becomes part of your poop.

On the other hand, foods packed with insoluble fiber, such as corn, oat bran, and carrots, are more difficult for your body to digest, which explains why they may appear in your stool looking relatively unchanged.

2. Color Matters When It Comes to Poop

As you may have seen in pictures of poop, the color can vary — a lot — depending on what kinds of food you’ve ingested and other factors. Dr. Sheth has seen patients get full workups for bright red stool that turned out to be related to nothing more than the passage of beets.

But don’t ignore red stool, as it may be rectal bleeding, a potential symptom of a serious health issue that needs treatment.

Leafy vegetables can cause green stool, while certain medications can make your poop look white or clay-colored. Look out for jet-black stool. Though it could be from something as harmless as iron supplements or black licorice, the color can be a sign of bleeding or tumors in the upper gastrointestinal tract.

3. So Does the Shape

Did you know there’s an actual diagnostic chart that classifies human poop into seven categories on the basis of shape and consistency?

The Bristol Stool Form Scale identifies seven types of poop:

  • Type 1 Separate hard lumps, like pebbles, that are difficult to pass
  • Type 2 Hard and lumpy, resembling a sausage
  • Type 3 Sausage-shaped with cracks on the surface
  • Type 4 Thinner and more snake-like, smooth and soft
  • Type 5 Soft blobs with clear edges
  • Type 6 Mushy pieces with ragged edges
  • Type 7 Liquid with no solid pieces
Types 3 and 4 are considered normal, and the shapes are signs of a healthy diet and lifestyle.

Types 1 and 2 signal constipation, while types 6 and 7 are diarrhea and can be signs of an infection, food poisoning, or a gastrointestinal illness. If your poop consistently falls on this part of the scale, talk to your doctor to determine the underlying cause. Type 5 typically indicates a lack of fiber in the diet, which lends bulk to stool and acts as a glue to keep the poop stuck together as it exits your body.

7 Best Foods to Help Relieve Constipation

Discover the top 7 foods that can help prevent constipation and improve your digestive health.
7 Best Foods to Help Relieve Constipation

Next up video playing in 10 seconds

4. Terrible-Smelling Poop May Be a Sign of Infection

It’s no news that poop never smells pleasant, but particularly pungent stool is often a sign of infection, according to Sheth. Terrible-smelling poop along with chronic diarrhea may be a sign of a stomach bug caused by giardia parasites, ingested most often during swims in untreated water in springs, rivers, or lakes.

Chronic diarrhea could also suggest a more serious digestive condition such as ulcerative colitis, Crohn's disease, or celiac disease.

5. Consistency Is Key When It Comes to Bowel Movements

Do you hit the bathroom at the same exact time every morning, or can you go days before you need to poop? It’s all normal, says Sheth — the important thing is that you’re consistent with your own routine. Generally, anywhere from three bowel movements per day to three a week falls into the normal range.

A big decrease in poop could be due to a diet change, which is why many people find they’re less regular on weekends or on vacation — they may be eating less fiber or working out less often, both of which promote healthy digestion. Other factors affecting poop output — either a decrease or an increase — are gastrointestinal disorders, an underactive thyroid, or colon cancer.

Cultural differences play a role, too. Sheth notes in his book that people from South Asian countries, like India, pass three times as much stool as people from Britain do, a difference he explains is largely due to the higher fiber content in the average Indian diet.

6. How to Tell if It’s Diarrhea or Constipation

Digestion can take anywhere from 36 to 48 hours, during which time the food you’ve eaten travels down your esophagus to your stomach, then to your small intestine, your large intestine, and out through the anus.

Diarrhea occurs when your poop passes too quickly through the large intestine, where most of the water content is absorbed. Constipation, on the other hand, is when it takes too long for stool to pass through. Loose stools can be due to many factors, including stomach viruses, foodborne illness, food allergies or intolerances, like lactose intolerance, or from other digestive issues.

Constipation, on the other hand, is when it's difficult to pass a bowel movement or you poop less frequently than normal. Constipation is one of the most common reasons patients see gastroenterologists. Certain medications, lack of exercise, and a lack of fiber or liquid in the diet are all common causes of constipation.

7. Healthy Poop Should Sink in the Toilet

Listen for the sound of your poop as it hits the water in the toilet. Floating stools could be an indication of high fat content, which can be a sign of malabsorption, a condition in which you can't absorb enough fat and other nutrients from the food you’re ingesting. It can also be a sign of celiac disease or chronic pancreatitis.

8. It’s Normal to Pass Gas 10 to 18 Times a Day

Farting is completely healthy and the result of harmless bacteria breaking down food in the large intestine. Your colon is filled with bacteria that release gas as a by-product of digesting the food you eat. Your body absorbs some of it into the bloodstream, which you breathe out through your lungs, and expels the rest out of your other end. It’s normal to pass gas anywhere from 10 to 18 times a day.

9. Stool Transplants Can Treat C. difficile Infections

Fecal microbiota transplants are real — and they work. Research shows a fecal transplant — in which stool from a healthy person is placed in the colon of an infected person — is an effective treatment for C. difficile bacterial infection.

The trillions of good bacteria in a healthy person’s poop can recolonize another person's digestive tract and treat infections that haven’t responded well to other treatments, including antibiotics and probiotics, Sheth says.

Researchers are looking into the potential for fecal transplants to treat other illnesses, including inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), autism, and obesity, but the procedure is currently not approved for these conditions.

10. Watch How Long Your Spend on the Toilet

Sitting too long on the toilet can contribute to hemorrhoids, or swollen blood vessels in and around the anus. The longer you stay in the bathroom trying to poop, the more pressure and stress you put on your backside. Sitting for too long on the toilet can also restrict blood flow around the anal area, which can make hemorrhoids worse.

Most of the time, a diet devoid of fiber, which keeps your bowels regular and prevents constipation and hard poop, is to blame. Most Americans eat 8.7 to 9.7 g of fiber per 1,000 calories per day, but the recommendation is that women should eat 25 g (for a 2,000 calorie diet), while men should aim for 38 g (for a 2,500 calorie diet).

11. Your Cell Phone Might Be Covered With Poop

Wash your hands well after using the bathroom, or poop may travel with you. Researchers discovered that cell phones carry a diverse range of microorganisms, which can spread E. coli bacteria.

Since phones tend to travel with us everywhere — especially places where we eat, like kitchen counters, restaurant tables, and desks, to name a few — the E. coli bacteria detected on them may play a role in spreading illness.

The Takeaway

  • Poop can reveal important clues about your digestive health, hydration, and diet.
  • Color, shape, and consistency matter — sudden or persistent changes may signal an underlying issue.
  • Gas, odor, and bathroom frequency vary widely and are often influenced by what you eat.
  • Ongoing symptoms like blood in the stool, severe pain, or long-term changes should be evaluated by a healthcare professional.
EDITORIAL SOURCES
Everyday Health follows strict sourcing guidelines to ensure the accuracy of its content, outlined in our editorial policy. We use only trustworthy sources, including peer-reviewed studies, board-certified medical experts, patients with lived experience, and information from top institutions.
Resources
  1. Mawer S et al. Physiology, Defecation. StatPearls. November 23 2023.
  2. Guan ZW et al. Soluble Dietary Fiber, One of the Most Important Nutrients for the Gut Microbiota. Molecules. November 11, 2021.
  3. Undigested Food in Stool: What Does It Mean? Mayo Clinic. October 12, 2023.
  4. Rectal Bleeding. Cleveland Clinic. June 8, 2023.
  5. Stool Color: When to Worry. Mayo Clinic. October 10, 2024.
  6. Poop Shape, Color and Smell: What’s Healthy and What’s Not. Cleveland Clinic. February 11, 2022.
  7. About Giardia Infection. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. May 3, 2024.
  8. Stools - Foul Smelling. Mount Sinai. 2025.
  9. Nonprescription Laxatives For Constipation: Use With Caution. Mayo Clinic. January 26, 2024.
  10. Change in Bowel Habits. Cleveland Clinic. September 9, 2023.
  11. Digestion: How Long Does It Take? Mayo Clinic. June 7, 2025.
  12. Symptoms & Causes of Diarrhea. National Institute Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases. September 2024.
  13. Constipation. Johns Hopkins Medicine. 2025.
  14. Stools - Floating. Mount Sinai. 2025.
  15. 10 Tips on Belching, Bloating, and Flatulence. American College of Gastroenterology. 2025.
  16. Fecal Transplant. Cleveland Clinic. August 21, 2023.
  17. Hemorrhoids. Johns Hopkins Medicine. 2025.
  18. Most Americans Are Not Getting Enough Fiber in Our Diets. American Society for Nutrition. June 9, 2021.
  19. Keeping Your Phone Clean Can Help Prevent You From Getting Sick. Indiana University School of Medicine. February 3, 2025.
Meet Our Experts
See Our Editorial PolicyMeet Our Health Expert Network

Yuying Luo, MD

Medical Reviewer

Yuying Luo, MD, is an assistant professor of medicine at Mount Sinai West and Morningside in New York City. She aims to deliver evidence-based, patient-centered, and holistic care for her patients.

Her clinical and research focus includes patients with disorders of gut-brain interaction such as irritable bowel syndrome and functional dyspepsia; patients with lower gastrointestinal motility (constipation) disorders and defecatory and anorectal disorders (such as dyssynergic defecation); and women’s gastrointestinal health.

She graduated from Harvard with a bachelor's degree in molecular and cellular biology and received her MD from the NYU Grossman School of Medicine. She completed her residency in internal medicine at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, where she was also chief resident. She completed her gastroenterology fellowship at Mount Sinai Hospital and was also chief fellow.

See full bio

Jaimie Dalessio Clayton

Author

Jaimie is a senior editor at HGTV Magazine. Previously, she was a member of the Everyday Health team, and she covered the wedding world for The Knot. She holds a degree in magazine journalism from Syracuse University, and her work has also appeared in Discover and Food & Wine magazines.

See full bio
See Our Editorial PolicyMeet Our Health Expert Network