What Makes Poop Float?

[mythreesuns]

I'm just wondering...

I'm still having intermittent diarrhea even after about 6wks gluten free (with I'm sure a couple of accidental glutenings) and lately my poop is back to floating.

It didn't always float before, but now it's almost every day. I was just wondering if that was normal in any way. To get totally TMI, it's a darker color than it was before, but it's still floating.

Does that mean anything, or am I reading too much on the internet, like my friends keep telling me?

[Guest ~jules~]

I read that it is poop with a high content of undigested fat, steatoreah (sp?).

[kabowman]

I think the general consensus is gas, a lot of people believe it is undigested fat but just google it and see what you find.

[2kids4me]

hope this helps, all it means is that the stool has more gas - diarrhea is stool that passes quickly = more gas = floater. The longer stool sits in the large intestine - the darker it becomes.

Floating stools are seen in a variety of different situations. Most are diet-related, or caused by episodes of diarrhea that accompany an acute gastrointestinal infection. A change in dietary habits can lead to an increase in the amount of gas produced by bacteria in the gastrointestinal tract.

Similarly, acute gastrointestinal (GI) infections can result in increased gas content in the intestines, due to rapid movement of food through the GI tract. One wrong idea is that floating stools are caused by an increase in the fat content of the stool. In fact, it is increased gas levels in the stool that make it less dense and allow it to float.

Another cause of floating stools is malabsorption. More than two weeks of diarrhea with floating stools is often seen in people suffering from malabsorption, a dysfunction in the GI tract that affects the body's ability to digest and absorb fat and other types of foods.

Increased levels of nutrients in the stool (which have not been absorbed by the GI tract) are supplied to the normal bacteria that live in the gut, which in turn produce more gas. This results in more gas-rich stools that float.

Floating stools alone do not indicate an illness or problem, and they do not require home care. If a change in diet has caused problems, try to find and eliminate the offending food.

Open Original Shared Link

[mythreesuns]

hope this helps, all it means is that the stool has more gas - diarrhea is stool that passes quickly = more gas = floater. The longer stool sits in the large intestine - the darker it becomes.

Thanks!