Table of ContentsView AllTable of ContentsFoodsSpecial DietsMedical CausesDrugs and SupplementsPregnancyBabies and ChildrenSeek Medical Care
Table of ContentsView All
View All
Table of Contents
Foods
Special Diets
Medical Causes
Drugs and Supplements
Pregnancy
Babies and Children
Seek Medical Care
Green stool—poop/feces that has a greenish color—means you may have eaten something that was green, blue, or purple. However, it is also a common side effect of iron supplements and some medications.
Green stool can mean different things in adults and children. For newborns, it is normal in the first three days of life. Later, however, it may indicate food sensitivity or an infection. Green poop can also occur in pregnancy.
Verywell / Joshua Seong
Foods That Cause Green Poop
Stool is digested food. Green poop is often the result of eating foods that are rich in green, blue, or purple pigments—either natural hues or food coloring. Here’s a list of foods that can cause green poop.
Green Foods
Your poop can be green after eating large amounts ofgreen vegetables, such as:
Eating large amounts of green fruits like these can also cause green poop:
Green poop after eating these foods doesn’t mean there’s something wrong. Dark green, leafy vegetables and green fruits are rich inchlorophyll—the pigment that gives plants their color. Any of these plant foods can cause green poop if you eat enough of them.
Nuts like pistachios, seeds like hemp seeds, and herbs like parsley, basil, and cilantro are also rich in chlorophyll. Matcha, a type of powdered green tea, can make stools a bright green hue as well.
Some foods contain green (or blue and yellow) food coloring that may turn your poop green. These dyes are sometimes used in canned green peas, green beer, breakfast cereal, candy, jarred pickles, salad dressing, drinks, icing, and sweets. You’ll also see these dyes in holiday food.
A small serving may not be enough to give you green poop. Green poop is more likely if you’re eating large servings, like those found in smoothies, juices, pureed soups, large salads, or guacamole.
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Blue and Purple Foods
Deep blue or purple foods can sometimes lead to green poop. This includes blueberries, grapes, and red wine.
Purple (or red and blue) food coloring can also cause dark or bright green poop.These dyes are in the following products:
Food dye colors are often used during Kwanzaa, Easter, Eid Al-Fitr, Saint Patrick’s Day, and Halloween.
Coffee, Spicy Foods, and Alcohol
As bile moves through the small intestine to the large intestine, it changes color from green to yellow to brown. This is due to how bacteria in thelarge intestineact on bile salts.
Coffee, alcohol, jalapeños, and chili pepper can make you have to poop more quickly.These foods cause a laxative effect that makes food rush through your intestines too fast for it to change from green to brown.
Special Diets Can Cause Green Poop
Some diets are also more likely to cause stool to turn green. Green poop can mean the food is not fully digested or you have an abundance of bile (digestive juices). The following diets may cause green poop and the meaning behind it.
Medical Causes of Green Poop
Medical issues can sometimes cause green stool. Green poop is often associated with diarrhea, which causes stool to move faster through the digestive tract.It can also be due to digestive health problems.
Diarrhea
Several health conditions can lead to green poop from diarrhea:
Absorption Issues
Floating green stoolscan be a sign that your intestines aren’t absorbing fat, carbohydrates, and other nutrients properly. The occasional floater is normal. However, if it is an ongoing occurrence, it could be a sign of a more serious health issue.
Intestinal Inflammation
Green stools that have visible mucus could mean the lining of your intestines is inflamed. Excess mucus can also cause you to havesticky poop.
If you notice this often, it could be a sign of a condition that may require treatment, especially if involves other symptoms like diarrhea,constipation, pain in your abdomen, nausea, or vomiting.
Chemical Poisoning
Liver or Gallbladder Problems
Bile is a a greenish-yellow liquid made in your liver and stored in your gallbladder. If you have green poop or green diarrhea, then there may be excess bile in your stool.
Some types of liver disease that cause increased bile production can result in yellowish or green, watery diarrhea. This effect is seen innon-alcoholic fatty liver disease.
Problems with the gallbladder, liver, or pancreas usually don’t cause green stools. Instead, they can producepale or clay-colored stools. Causes include hepatitis, cirrhosis, gallstones, cysts, and cancer.
Drugs and Supplements That Cause Green Poop
Taking iron supplements can change the color of your poop to dark green (or black).Other vitamins, supplements, and teas that can cause green poop include:
Causes of Green Poop in Pregnancy
Green poop is common during pregnancy and is usually nothing to be concerned about. It can mean different things at different points during pregnancy, such as:
Causes of Green Poop in Babies, Toddlers, and Kids
A sensitivity to milk proteins, digestive-enzyme deficiency, or carbohydrate malabsorption can also cause green poop in formula-fed babies.
Green Poop in Breastfed Babies
Green Poop in Toddlers
In toddlers, green poop and foul-smelling diarrhea are often associated withteething. But that’s just an old wives’ tale, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics.
Green poop in toddlers is often a sign of aviral infection. This frequently happens when the toddler’s immature immune system meets the developmental milestone of oral exploration.
Diarrhea should be treated with excess fluids to prevent dehydration. Diarrhea with a fever of 100.4 F or higher (rectal, forehead, or ear) warrants a call to the pediatrician.
Green Poop and Older Kids
Kids often eat foods that have food dyes, including green, purple, blue and yellow, or red and blue coloring. They are found in grape Pedialyte and some kids’ breakfast cereals, drinks, candies, birthday cakes, and cookies.
Green poop in kids can also be due to iron supplements, viral gastritis, or digestive enzyme deficiency such aslactose intolerance.
When to See Your Healthcare Provider
Bright red or black stool may indicate blood, which calls for immediate medical attention.
Seek emergency help for any signs of severe dehydration. Symptoms for babies and children include:
Signs of severe dehydration in adults include:
Red or Black StoolCall your healthcare provider right away if you have red, black, or tarry stool (melena) as it can be a sign of blood in your digestive tract. Seek emergency care for severe blood loss or blood in the stools that occurs with rapid breathing, severe pain, vomiting, dizziness, or extreme weakness.
Red or Black Stool
Call your healthcare provider right away if you have red, black, or tarry stool (melena) as it can be a sign of blood in your digestive tract. Seek emergency care for severe blood loss or blood in the stools that occurs with rapid breathing, severe pain, vomiting, dizziness, or extreme weakness.
Summary
Stool is normally brown, but green poop is common at any age. Stool typically turns green because of something green that you ate or drank. It usually returns to brown within a day or two.
Stool can also turn green if you are doing a colon cleanse, ate something with a laxative effect, or have diarrhea. This is because the stool is rushing through your intestines so quickly that there’s not enough time for your intestinal bacteria to make it brown.
See a healthcare provider if you have red, black, or tarry stool; green stool that isn’t going away; or accompanying symptoms such as pain, diarrhea, and fever.
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