Stool Color Chart: What Poop Colors Mean and Why

Most odd colors in the toilet have a boring explanation. Cleveland Clinic says the color of your poop usually points to something you ate, and that it should go back to brown once that food is out of your system. Colors that could mean blood, or bile not getting through, deserve the closest look.

Why brown is the baseline

MedlinePlus explains that the liver releases bile salts into the stool, and that is what gives it its normal brown color. Cleveland Clinic calls brown the ideal color for adults and says the shade can vary. A few off-color stools don’t mean you’re unhealthy. A color that stays, or keeps changing, is the thing to watch.

Color by color

Rows come from Cleveland Clinic’s stool color page unless marked MedlinePlus.

Color	Food or medicine causes	Health causes named	Read more
Green	Kale, spinach, green food coloring	Bacterial infections, IBS, food passing through too fast	Green stool
Yellow	Carrots, sweet potatoes, fatty or fried foods	Excess fat in the stool, pancreatitis, celiac disease, bile duct issues	Yellow stool, greasy stool
Red	Red food coloring, tomato juice, beets, cranberries	Rectal bleeding from hemorrhoids, ulcers or fissures; inflammatory bowel disease	Blood in stool, red stool after beets
Black	Blueberries, black licorice, iron pills, bismuth medicines such as Pepto-Bismol (MedlinePlus)	Bleeding in the esophagus, stomach or first part of the small intestine (MedlinePlus)	Black stool
Pale, gray or clay	Anti-diarrheal medicines; rarely, dairy	Liver, bile duct, gallbladder or pancreas problems	Pale stool

Orange isn’t on Cleveland Clinic’s chart. It has its own article.

Blood and bile

MedlinePlus says the color of blood in stool hints at where it came from. Black or tarry stool may mean bleeding in the upper digestive tract, where blood darkens as it’s digested on the way down. Red or fresh blood most often comes from the colon, rectum or anus. Blood thinners raise the risk of bleeding in the gut.

Some lookalikes aren’t blood at all. MedlinePlus names iron pills, bismuth medicines, activated charcoal, black licorice, blueberries and blood sausage for black stool, and beets or red food coloring for reddish stool, and says a provider can test the stool for blood. The NHS agrees that iron tablets and dark foods can darken poo, but says it’s sometimes a sign of something else.

With pale stool the question is bile. MedlinePlus says pale or clay-colored stool may be due to problems in the biliary system: a liver infection can cut bile production, or bile flow out of the liver can be blocked. Yellow skin (jaundice) and dark urine can come with it.

A week of color notes

A made-up example:

Day	Color	Food or medicine	Other notes
Mon	Green	Spinach smoothie at breakfast	Felt fine
Tue	Brown
Wed	Very dark	Second day of iron tablets	No pain, no dizziness
Fri	Pale, clay-like	Nothing new	Urine darker than usual
Sat	Pale		Urine still dark
Sun	Pale

Monday fits Cleveland Clinic’s food causes, and the color was gone by Tuesday. Wednesday lines up with iron, which all three sources name as a cause of dark stool. The NHS still puts black poo on its list for an urgent GP appointment, and says a GP can test dark poo if you’re worried. Friday to Sunday shows pale stool with dark urine, a pairing MedlinePlus describes. It says to contact a provider when stool isn’t brown for several days. Cleveland Clinic goes further: clay-colored poop with yellow skin or eyes (jaundice) and dark pee means contacting a provider right away, without waiting for more entries.

MedlinePlus lists questions a provider may ask that make good log notes: when it started, whether every stool looks this way, and whether you’ve had blood thinners, NSAIDs such as ibuprofen, iron, Pepto-Bismol, black licorice or blueberries.

When to get help

• See a GP (NHS) if you’ve had blood in your poo for 3 weeks, or your child has blood in their poo.
• Ask for an urgent GP appointment or contact NHS 111 if your poo is black or dark red, or you have bloody diarrhea.
• Contact a provider right away (MedlinePlus) if you notice blood or color changes in your stool, vomit blood, or feel dizzy or lightheaded.
• Call 999 or go to A&E (NHS) if the bleeding won’t stop or there’s a lot of blood, such as red toilet water or large clots. Don’t drive yourself.

NIDDK says confusion or unconsciousness, a fast heart rate, pale skin, cold hands and feet, and sweating can be signs of shock from severe bleeding, which needs emergency help right away. Outside the UK, routes differ: MedlinePlus, a US government health site, says to call 911 or go to the nearest emergency room for black, tarry stools, a lot of blood in the stool, or vomiting blood. Where you live, contact a doctor if you see blood in your stool, and use your local emergency number for black, tarry stool, heavy bleeding or signs of shock. This article is general information, not medical advice.

How bellySignal helps

bellySignal logs each bowel movement with a Bristol type from 1 to 7, a color, and blood or mucus flags. Next to it you can add food triggers and a note such as “started iron” or “pale again,” and track urine color on a 1 to 8 hydration scale plus water in cups or mL. The app doesn’t diagnose anything, but a provider can see when a color started and what came before it. Get bellySignal on Google Play.

Your diary is stored on your device, and you can start logging without signing up. Optional login, health platform sync, and export are available. Some health values, including stool type, symptoms, and manually entered weight, are also sent to PostHog, which is enabled by default. The analytics switch in settings controls PostHog only. Firebase Analytics receives usage events without those health values and remains active. Privacy policy.