The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #110793 Message #2328331
Posted By: Stilly River Sage
29-Apr-08 - 12:54 AM
Thread Name: BS: (Almost literal) gross, but advice pls
Subject: RE: BS: (Almost literal) gross, but advice pls
Italy has been having some problems with the cheese. I think it has mostly to do with mozarella and ricotta, but If you have Italian parmesan cheese you might want to do some research. I don't know if it would make it through the USDA Ag inpsectors stations, but then we know that they catch only a fraction of the problems that are around. The biggest cheese issue in Italy has to do with the trash problems in Naples (a trash strike leads to no pickup leads to pollution in the water, getting to the milk and cheese supply). Dioxin is the culprit there.
From About.com (used to be Mining Company, but now it is so full of ads I rarely go there, and keep my popup blocker on maximum strength):
The liver constantly a bright green fluid called bile that is secreted into the small intestine or stored in the gallbladder.
Bile is needed to absorb fats and fat soluble vitamins. It also helps to soften stools and is responsible for giving stools their characteristic brown color.
As bile makes its way through the intestines, it progressively changes color from green to yellow to brown, due to the action of bacteria in the large intestine on the bile salts.
Green stool often indicates that food has passed through the intestines faster than normal (called decreased bowel transit time), before it could be changed from green to brown.
Diarrhea decreases bowel transit time, so any condition that causes diarrhea can result in green stool.
Other causes of green stool include: Laxative use Antibiotic use Medication side effects Food poisoning Celiac disease Ulcerative colitis Crohn's disease Malabsorption Irritable bowel syndrome Bacterial overgrowth Infectious diarrhea - especially salmonella and giardia Traveler's diarrhea Cancer Foods and supplements that can cause green stool include: Chlorophyll Iron supplements Algae
Another article: http://ibdcrohns.about.com/cs/otherdiseases/a/greenstool.htm
Stool that looks green in color is not necessarily a cause for alarm. A question from my email: "After I went to the bathroom today I was surprised to discover my stool was green! What can cause this? Should I be worried? Should I call the doctor?"
If you have the occasional green stool—don't panic! Most likely it is normal, and there is a perfectly reasonable explanation. Think about the foods you ate, any vitamins or supplements you took—even if they're not green in color.
There can be many reasons why stool appears to be green. The first and most obvious reason is eating green foods. Green, leafy vegetables contain chlorophyll which could be coloring the stool green. Foods with dark purple coloring like Kool-Aid, popsicles, and gelatin (Jell-O) can also result in rainbow-colored stools. Iron supplements or even foods that are rich in iron can also give stool a green tinge.
Stool can also appear green for physical reasons, and not just from what you've been eating. We think of a healthy stool as being brown. Bile that is secreted in the first part of the small intestine is actually green. As stool is digested and passed through the large intestine it is turned into a darker brown color.
If stool is still green by the time it is excreted, it could mean that it went through the large intestine too fast to be changed in color. This is often called "rapid transit" or "decreased colonic transit time" and diarrhea that is green in color could be the result.
In breast-fed babies, green stool is a normal occurrence, especially right after delivery. In older children, the reason could be food-related as described above, or even from non-food items. Eating or sucking on colored non-food items such as crayons might also turn stools different colors.
If green stool continues, or your bowel habits have changed in other ways, you may want to call your doctor. This is especially true if you are experiencing diarrhea which can be an indication of other problems or could lead to dehydration.