Fatty poops are different from normal poops. They tend to be looser, smellier and paler in color, like clay. They might float. You might have an occasional fatty poop after eating a fatty meal.
Patients with steatorrhea present with bulky, pale, foul-smelling oily stools. These fatty stools tend to float in the toilet bowl and often challenging to flush as well. In the early stages, steatorrhea may be asymptomatic and go unnoticed.
When there is inadequate absorption of fats in the digestive tract, stool contains excess fat and is light-colored, soft, bulky, greasy, and unusually foul-smelling (such stool is called steatorrhea). The stool may float or stick to the side of the toilet bowl and may be difficult to flush away.
If a tumor blocks the pancreatic duct, insufficient pancreatic juices in the intestines can lead to poor absorption and diarrhea, as the undigested food passes quickly through the digestive tract. If this happens, stool may float due to the higher fat content, appear bulky, greasy, and unusually pale.
If you have poop that appears oily, has a greasy consistency and is difficult to flush, it could be a signal that your body is not able to properly digest fat.
There are several ways that anxiety affects digestion, increasing the risk of yellow feces. Anxiety is also linked to IBS, which can cause yellow stool. There are no ways to directly affect the color of stool, but reducing anxiety should improve digestive health and allow food and waste to process correctly.
Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS), Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD), and Crohn's disease: All of these conditions of the bowel and intestine are inflammatory conditions that impact how well nutrients and fats are absorbed by the body. Therefore, gut issues like these can all cause greasy, fatty stools.
Stool is denser than water and usually sinks, but it can float if it contains too much fiber, fat, or gas.
Fatty diarrhea can be caused by malabsorption or maldigestion and includes disorders such as celiac disease, giardiasis, and pancreatic exocrine insufficiency.
Steatorrhea means that you have excessive amounts of fat in your poop. Fatty poops are different from normal poops. They tend to be looser, smellier and paler in color, like clay. They might float.
Bacteria that live in the bowel convert the sulphur in food into hydrogen sulphide, in a process known as fermentation. This highly toxic product is responsible for the foul odour associated with passing gas, can cause abdominal pain, and frequent, urgent trips to the toilet.
Chronic or long-term liver disease, including cirrhosis, primary biliary cholangitis (PBC), and primary sclerosing cholangitis (PBS) can damage the body's ability to absorb bile acids. This can cause bile acid deficiency, which can lead to oily stools.
Advanced chronic pancreatitis
The absence of digestive juices makes it difficult for your digestive system to break down fats and certain proteins. This can cause your stools to become particularly smelly and greasy, and make them difficult to flush down the toilet. You may also experience: weight loss.
Fat malabsorption
Fatty stools are greasy and runny and particularly smelly. They may be light-colored and float.
Bowel changes
If your pancreatic duct blocks, you might develop a symptom called steatorrhoea. This means fatty stools. You may pass frequent, large bowel motions that are pale coloured and smelly, and are difficult to flush away.
Pancreatic enzyme insufficiency causes pale, fatty, greasy, often foul-smelling stools, which don't easily flush away in the toilet. In terms of colour, the stool could be light green, pale brown, orange, yellowish, or even white. They tend to be frequent, loose, sloppy, and large in volume.
Irritable bowel syndrome
The most common symptom of IBS is stomach pain. Some people with IBS say they experience a bad odor and changes in stool. If you suspect you have IBS, see your doctor.
Diagnosing the cause of malabsorption
More specific diagnostic tests (eg, upper endoscopy, colonoscopy, barium x-rays) are indicated to diagnose several causes of malabsorption.
Low levels of carotene in the blood suggest deficient absorption of fat-soluble vitamins or dietary deficiency. Serum carotene levels are generally low in people with fat malabsorption. Vitamin B12 and folate levels may also be used to screen for malabsorption.