How to analyze your own stool samples.

How to Analyze Poop

Most people think it's normal to have a bowel movement 3-4 times a week, but that is actually considered constipation. Since changing my diet recently my movements have gone from once a day to three times a day which made me a little curious about the bottom of the toilet bowl. 3 times a day is optimal but more than 3 is going into diarrhoea territory. Also, the consistency should be solid, but not too hard, medium brown but not too dark or light.

Bowel movements are an essential part of everyone's health, but speaking publicly about them is often avoided due to the possibility of embarrassment or awkward moments. While feces are commonly used as a tool for evoking a quick laugh, it has a far nobler purpose. Your bowel movements can be a great source of information regarding the current state of your body's health, particularly your body's digestive health. It may seem unhygienic to examine your feces, but it's a small price to pay for the important information you could find. Once you've learned how to analyze feces, you can gain early glimpses into the state of your body before other symptoms appear.

Three methods for analyzing your stool (which I haven't yet tried) are as follows:

1. The best way to determine the health of your stool is to try the milk test. If you place a small piece of stool into a bowl with milk, a healthy stool will break apart and get soggy. This is because there are enzymes in milk that will break down the stool. If you don't see your stool breaking apart then there is a high acid content in your stool. You should consider eating more potassium rich foods such as bananas.

2. You can put on latex gloves and squeeze your feces. If it pops and more bits come out of it then you should put it in a jar with water and bring it to your doctor to get it analyzed. If your feces breaks apart into crumbs then you should drink more water.

3. You can fry your feces in a little bit of water for about ten minutes. After it is done cooking, it will turn into a liquid. Dip your hand in it (with a latex glove on). If it is stringy then you need to see your doctor right away. If it has the consistency of milk then you are healthy.

www.wikihow.com...



The human digestive system is truly remarkable. How it processes food is similar to a bio reactor which up until recent years and without genetic engineering, were very hard to recreate. The key was creating organisms that produce enzymes to break down complex molecules.

The same thing in our stomachs is used in fuel production, sugar and food production and a bunch of other industries.

www.bbc.co.uk...

More on macromolecules.



More interestingly though, (and related) your bowels are home to trillions of microbes,

Aiding the large intestine in this task are trillions of microbes that reside in the gut, where they help digest foods we would otherwise have to avoid. In this way the bugs contribute to our overall health.

Some of these tiny settlers are with us from birth, imparted from our mothers, while others gradually colonize our bodies as we grow. This microbial community is as diverse as any found in Earth's seas or soils, numbering up to 100 trillion individuals and representing more than 1,000 different species.

- See more at: www.livescience.com...

www.vivo.colostate.edu...


As you go from the stomach, down to the lower bowel the microbe life is sparse then begins to multiply greatly with greater variation. Looks almost like a bell curve when charted.

The character of the bacterial flora changes not only along the length of the gastrointestinal tract but also cross-sectionally with regard to the mucosal surface. Bacteria occupy the lumen, overlie the epithelial cells, and adhere to the mucosa. Penetration of bacteria through the mucosal surface is an abnormal event; pathogens such as Shigella, Salmonella, and Campylobacter invade in this way.

The same mechanisms that control the normal flora also protect the bowel from invasion by pathogens. Gastric acid in the stomach kills most organisms that are swallowed. Individuals with reduced or absent gastric acid have a high incidence of bacterial colonization in the upper small bowel and are more susceptible to bacterial diarrheal disease. Bile has antibacterial properties and thus may be another factor in controlling the flora. Forward propulsive motility (peristalsis) is a key element in suppressing the flora of the upper bowel. Finally, the microflora itself, by producing its own antibacterial substances (e.g., bacteriocins and fatty acids), stabilizes the normal populations and prevents implantation of pathogens.

What's interesting is the symbiotic nature of humans and the bacteria colonies in the digestive tract. They produce enzymes that if we didn't have we wouldn't be able to break down certain foods. The same little buggers that can put you in the hospital also keep you alive. (By "the same" I mean bacteria, obviously some have good and bad functions.)

The Enterohepatic Circulation

Enzymes produced by intestinal bacteria play a central role in the enterohepatic circulation. Substances that undergo enterohepatic circulation are metabolized in the liver, excreted in the bile, and passed into the intestinal lumen, where they are reabsorbed across the intestinal mucosa and returned to the liver via the portal circulation. The enterohepatic circulation generally involves compounds that are conjugated in the liver to a polar group such as glucuronic acid, sulfate, taurine, glycine, or glutathione. Conjugation increases the solubility of the metabolite in bile, but the conjugated compounds are poorly absorbed by the intestinal mucosa. Enzymes produced by intestinal bacteria—such as ß-glucuronidase, sulfatase, and various glycosidases—deconjugate these compounds, releasing the parent compounds which are readily absorbed across the intestinal wall. Many endogenous compounds undergo enterohepatic circulation, including bilirubin, bile acids, cholesterol, estrogens, and metabolites of vitamin D. In addition, many drugs that are excreted by the liver, including digitalis, diethylstilbestrol, morphine, colchicine, rifampin, and chloramphenicol, enter this pathway.

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov...

Peristalsis is similar to how a worm moves, which moves food down your digestive tract (through contraction of muscles) and also helps keep bacteria where it's supposed to be in the lower end. Higher rates of bacteria which is normally killed by stomach acid in the upper digestive tract or stomach can cause problems. (Bolded text)




In case anyone was curious about their bar stool. Wait, not that kind of stool. The other kind. It may not be the most cogent presentation, but as I questioned my owned these were the things that I wanted to look into. (Been a few years since biology class.)

You're a very interesting cat, Boncho. Glad to hear about your regularity. Uhm...that's about it.

um....eww.

Have you been out of work lately Boncho?

I know it's important but...Damn.

Actually I was the one who clicked on the post I guess.

Peace

reply to post by boncho


Just when we thought we had a thread for everything......, here comes Boncho.

jude11
um....eww.

Have you been out of work lately Boncho?

I know it's important but...Damn.

Actually I was the one who clicked on the post I guess.

Peace

Work is running very smoothly with great regularity. (No pun intended.) I have to find a new project because all my trainees on the last one are doing everything they're supposed to without my help. Leaving me to, possibly, too much spare time on my hands.

jude11
um....eww.

Have you been out of work lately Boncho?

I know it's important but...Damn.

Actually I was the one who clicked on the post I guess.

Peace

You kidding?..., that's the most important thing in live, like my father used to say :

"Mangia bene e caga forte,
non aver paura della morte!"

boncho

jude11
um....eww.

Have you been out of work lately Boncho?

I know it's important but...Damn.

Actually I was the one who clicked on the post I guess.

Peace

Work is running very smoothly with great regularity. (No pun intended.) I have to find a new project because all my trainees on the last one are doing everything they're supposed to without my help. Leaving me to, possibly, too much spare time on my hands.

If this is your new project...may the force be with you...(Pun intended.)

Peace

reply to post by boncho


I was just having a conversation with my SO about this very thing! Funny how we think alike in quite a few instances. I still find it amazing that only due to our symbiotic relationship with bacteria we are able to absorb the nutrients we need. If those bacteria are destroyed, we die. It is the worst effect of radiation poisoning. Our critters die first and we starve to death.
Fascinating.
I'm a twice a day man for the most part.

reply to post by boncho


Oily discharge may occur, but I'll leave this up to the TSA, NSA,
CIA and the FBIyi yi.

SnF

reply to post by boncho


I think the only thing worse than analyzing your own stool is to analyze some one else's.

Peacee

reply to post by boncho

What a #ty subject for a thread!!

3X a day, Boncho? Where do you find the time for ATS?

reply to post by boncho



O.K.....This is one of those threads that I have to post in.

Really? I can tell from how my belly feels, and an occasional look in the toilet to know that all is well. I guess some folks need to break out the rubber gloves and milk.

boncho

jude11
um....eww.

Have you been out of work lately Boncho?

I know it's important but...Damn.

Actually I was the one who clicked on the post I guess.

Peace

Work is running very smoothly with great regularity. (No pun intended.) I have to find a new project because all my trainees on the last one are doing everything they're supposed to without my help. Leaving me to, possibly, too much spare time on my hands.

.. and you chose to spend your time with poop experiments. **shakes head sadly** Stamp collecting or butterfly catching is much more fun.. and wont get your ass kicked for frying your poop in one of your wife's fying pans...

Snarl
reply to post by boncho

 

What a #ty subject for a thread!!

3X a day, Boncho? Where do you find the time for ATS?

Laptop...

Peace

Snarl
reply to post by boncho

 

What a #ty subject for a thread!!

3X a day, Boncho? Where do you find the time for ATS?

It's called multi-tasking, my friend

The first thing I thought of from your thread title was the movie "Running With Sissors". The dad analyzed poo too. Funny movie...

Just can't bring myself to get that intimate with my poo, let alone giving it a squeeze. LOL

But I have to admit, I was not bored reading your thread. LOL

3. You can fry your feces in a little bit of water for about ten minutes. After it is done cooking, it will turn into a liquid. Dip your hand in it (with a latex glove on). If it is stringy then you need to see your doctor right away. If it has the consistency of milk then you are healthy.

Could I add garlic pepper and diced onions, or is that taking the experimental method a bit too far?

@boncho .. if we don't have time to analyse can we send a stool to you'll

(:

reply to post by boncho


Talk about a taboo subject Boncho. However, I found your presentation informative and resourceful. This is a solid health perspective, checking our dumps.
Brave man Boncho. Thanks.
After all, politically speaking, we all would be better off if we all knew how full of crap we are.

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Well there were three elderly golfers are walking down the fairway . . .

"Sixty is the worst age to be," said the 60-year-old,
"You always feel like you have to pee. And most of the time nothing happens."

"Ah, that's nothing," said the 70-year-old. "When you're 70,
you don't have a bowel movement anymore. You take laxatives, eat bran,
you sit on the toilet all day and nothing happens."

"Actually," said the 80-year-old, "Eighty is the worst age of all."

"Do you have trouble peeing too?" asked the 60-year-old.

"No, I pee every morning at 6.00 am.
I pee like a racehorse; no problem at all."

"Do you have trouble having a bowel movement?"

"No, I have one every morning at 6.30 am."

Puzzled with this the 60-year-old said, "Let's get this straight. You pee every
morning at 6.00 am and poop every morning at 6.30 am.
So what's so tough about being 80?"

"I don't wake up until seven."


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