Community Health Network

• A stool color other than brown or tan

Causes

• Almost always due to food coloring or food additives. 
• Stool color relates more to what is eaten than to any disease.
• In children with diarrhea, the GI passage time is very rapid. Stools often come out the same color as the Kool-Aid or Jell-O water that went in. 

Clues to Unusual Stool Colors

Red:

• Blood from lower GI tract bleeding
• Foods: red Jell-O, red or grape Kool-Aid, red cereals, tomato juice or soup, tomato skin, cranberries, beets, red licorice
• Medicines: red medicines (e.g., Amoxicillin), occasionally other medicines that turn red in the GI tract (e.g., Omnicef)

Black:

• Blood from stomach bleeding (stomach acid turns blood to a dark, tar-like color)
• Foods: licorice, Oreo cookies, grape juice
• Medicines: iron, bismuth (e.g., Pepto-Bismol)
• Other: cigarette ashes, charcoal
• Bile: Dark green stools from bile may look black under poor lighting. Smearing a piece of stool on white paper and looking at it under a bright light often confirms that the color is actually dark green.

Green:

• Foods: green Jell-O, grape-flavored Pedialyte (turns bright green), spinach or other leafy vegetable. Dark green stools (e.g., spinach) may look black under poor lighting.
• Medicines: iron (e.g., in formula)
• Bile: Most dark green stools are normal and due to bile.  Bile-stained loose stools are seen with diarrhea illnesses and normal breastfed stools (especially during the first 2 months of life).  While bile is more commonly seen with diarrhea, it can also cause green formed stools.

White Or Light Gray:

• Foods: milk-only diet
• Medicines: aluminum hydroxide (antacids), barium sulfate from barium enema
• Liver disease: Young infants with blocked bile ducts have stools that are light gray or pale yellow.