Changes in diet can affect the way your stool smells. For example, eating more spicy food or higher quantities of meat than you usually do will likely produce stronger smelling stools. Significant changes to your diet while traveling can also change the way your stool smells.
Bad-smelling stool can be caused by diet, a medication, lactose intolerance, irritable bowel syndrome, inflammatory bowel disease, or an infection. Monitor what you eat and treat the underlying conditions.
Everyone poops, and yes, everyone's poop does stink. But how smelly your poop gets depends on the bacteria in your gut. Stools form in your colon (ready for evacuation), which is full of bacteria. The types of food you eat will determine the types of bacteria present.
Stools normally have an unpleasant odor. Most of the time, the odor is familiar. Stools that have an extremely bad, abnormal odor may be due to certain medical conditions. Foul-smelling stools also have normal causes, such as diet changes.
Turns out there are differences in stool odors between men and women, says Edwin McDonald, MD, assistant professor of gastroenterology at the University of Chicago. That's because poo is comprised mostly of bacteria that's been living in the intestines, and the types of bacteria in the guts of men and women vary.
Eating sugary, fatty and processed foods can make your poop smell bad. This happens as some people lack the enzyme that can fully break down fat, which delays the digestion process. And the longer the food sits around, the more digestive gasses your body will produce. This will make your poop even smellier.
Key points about giardiasis
Giardiasis is an infection caused by a parasite called Giardia. It causes diarrhea. Symptoms include explosive, watery, greasy, foul-smelling stools, bloating, nausea, pain, gas, fatigue, and loss of appetite. Several medicines are available that cure the infection.
Chlorophyllin has been used in alternative medicine as an aid to reduce the odor of urine or feces (bowel movements). Chlorophyllin is intended to improve the quality of life in people who have fecal incontinence due to spinal cord injury, bowel cancer, psychotic disorder, terminal illness, or other disorders.
Bacteria, Viruses and Parasites
Inflammation of the stomach and digestive tract can occur due to bacteria in foods such as Salmonella or E. coli as well as viruses and parasites. All these intruders can lead to foul-smelling diarrhea and will frequently come with cramping and abdominal pain.
Symptoms of giardiasis
tummy pain or cramps. farting (flatulence) smelly burps – they may smell like eggs.
Foul smelling yellow stools may be a sign that the digestive system is not absorbing nutrients as it should. Malabsorption can happen due to Crohn's disease. Learn more about the symptoms of malabsorption here.
Q: Can anxiety result in foul smelling stool? A: Yes. The gut and brain are closely interrelated. Anxiety can affect the gut and impair the digestive process and can cause diarrhea and foul smelling stool.
Foul-smelling stools may also be a sign of an intestinal viral, bacterial (like E. coli or Salmonella), or parasitic infection. These infections can occur after eating contaminated food or drinking contaminated water (which can also happen when swimming).
Most of the time, a foul scent alone isn't indicative of anything worrisome. But if there is a change in the smell of your number two that coincides with other potentially concerning symptoms like diarrhea, fever, chills, or unexplained weight loss, it could signal something more serious, Dr. Lee says.
Eating sugary, fatty and processed foods can make your poop smell bad. This happens as some people lack the enzyme that can fully break down fat, which delays the digestion process. And the longer the food sits around, the more digestive gasses your body will produce. This will make your poop even smellier.
Well, the pungent smell of poop is due to something called skatole, which is an organic compound that is the primary odor of poop. That combined sulfur-containing compound called thiols, along with amines and carboxylic acids really gives your poop that smell that you can almost taste.
The smell of period poop is due in part by the change in women's eating habits, normally the week before their period. High levels of progesterone are linked to binge eating and cravings before your period, which explains why period poop smells.
If you have phantosmia, the odors can vary from smells that almost make you sick to really pleasant scents. But most people with phantosmia tend to detect bad smells. The odors have been described as “burned," "foul," "rotten," "sewage," or "chemical." You may be smelling it from one or both of your nostrils.
Most of the time, a drastic change in stool scent is caused by something you ate, Dr. Lee says. So, if you notice your stool smells more pungent only when you eat certain foods — and you have no other symptoms — she suggests monitoring your stool to make sure it returns to baseline.
You see, wiping with standard toilet paper doesn't clean the poop off your butthole—it just smears it around. Those fecal remnants cling to your butt hair and fester for hours, leading to an ungodly stench.
Stool Smell
Foul-smelling stools are common in people with UC. There are several reasons for this: Intestinal infections can cause a "rotten" smell. Blood in the intestines can give the stools a bloody or metallic smell.