Are There Any Other Causes For Floating Stools Besides Gluten?

[Sarah8793]

Just wondering after reading another post here, because I have been gluten for over a year now and I still get floating stools once in a while?

[melmak5]

Non-soluble fiber.

One source is the hulls of untreated corn. They are not digestible by humans.

Depending on the consistency of your stools, they can float.

Are you eating a lot of fiber?

[Sarah8793]

I'm not sure. For example, the day before I had my most recent floating stool, I had had popcorn. But would it show up as a floating stool 3 stools later?

[melmak5]

Popcorn is a PERFECT cause of this.

It depends on how quickly your body digests and processes food, when you will see them in your stools. (It also depends on how frequently you have stools.)

Hopefully others will have more knowledge, as to "if this is ok/normal." But it sounds like corn to me.

[Sarah8793]

Thanks for your help with this.

[mftnchn]

As I understand it, the floating is typically related to undigested fat.

[jmd3]

  Sarah8793 said:

Just wondering after reading another post here, because I have been gluten for over a year now and I still get floating stools once in a while?

I was recently told this by a doctor -

After you are gluten free for a while - stools are good to be floating, it means that - everything is being digested properly, and your intestines are doing their job. ( I am not referring to D - ) If the stools are heavy/sinkers, that means it took a while for everything to go through your system, pushing things up against the colon walls for longer periods of time and waste that lays around in your colon is not good for you.

Also, I know if you take a probiotic it helps with bacteria speeding up the waste process, depending how good the probiotic is working for you.

[Sarah8793]

  jmd3 said:

I was recently told this by a doctor -

After you are gluten free for a while - stools are good to be floating, it means that - everything is being digested properly, and your intestines are doing their job. ( I am not referring to D - ) If the stools are heavy/sinkers, that means it took a while for everything to go through your system, pushing things up against the colon walls for longer periods of time and waste that lays around in your colon is not good for you.

Also, I know if you take a probiotic it helps with bacteria speeding up the waste process, depending how good the probiotic is working for you.

Thanks for explaining this. I'm feeling a little better now that I have read everyone's responses.

[Cat5]

We were told that floating stools can also mean Malabsorption problems and that you may need to take more B vitamins. ?? Don't know how correct that is, but might be worth checking into.