A certain color spectrum of our feces is completely normal, because what we eat is digested. Basically, the color of our stool is brown, for which stercobilin, a breakdown product of the red blood pigment hemoglobin, is responsible. So what does it mean when we have yellow stools?

Yellow bowel movements: the causes of yellow stools

Oops, the stool has a yellowish color? Should I be worried now? Yellow stools can have various causes:

Food/nutrition

As already described, the color of the stool depends, among other things, on the foods we eat and digest. In particular, foods with a lot of starch such as corn, potatoes or cereals can result in yellowish stools. Dairy products and eggs also promote yellow stools. Breastfeeding mothers can also observe this in their babies. In this case, the coloration is completely harmless.

Medication

Medications such as antibiotics can also cause yellow stools. Antibiotics in particular have a major impact on our intestinal flora and can unbalance it by destroying good bacteria.

Stress

Stress can also cause discoloration, as it is often accompanied by diarrhoea or soft stools. The yellow bile pigment bilirubin undergoes a shorter intestinal passage during stress and cannot be sufficiently converted into sterkobilin.

Yellow stools: a cause for concern?

In some cases, you should definitely consult a doctor if the yellow stools are accompanied by symptoms such as abdominal pain, vomiting or persistent diarrhea. These symptoms can be signs of the following illnesses

• chronic inflammatory bowel disease
• Disease of the pancreas
• gluten intolerance

These diseases require urgent treatment or a change in diet, which is why you should not take the symptoms described above lightly.