Every month, there are thousands of people around the world whose poop turns green. When this happens, they often wonder, “why is my poop green?” To be honest, there are thousands of possible reasons why your poop changed color, and there is no one that we can discuss every possible reason for in this article. However, some causes of green poop occur much more frequently than others, and in this article I would like to tell you about the three most common causes for green stools.

The first major cause of why people have green poop is due to drinking too many artificially colored soft drinks. You see, soft drinks are usually loaded with various chemicals that produce artificial colors, and when that artificial colorant is designed to turn drinks green, it may also have the ability to turn your poop green. This really isn’t much of a concern though, because your poop will go back to brown as soon as you stop drinking so much green soda.

The next main reason stool can turn green is due to Salmonella. In case you don’t know, salmonella is a digestive disease and is often caused by eating meat or eggs before they are fully cooked. And because Salmonella primarily affects the digestive system, it can have a pretty dramatic effect on our poop. And, as you may have already guessed, one effect it can have is turning the poop green. Fortunately, Salmonella rarely lasts long, and your body should return to its healthy state within three to four days.

The main final cause of green poop is excess bile in the body. For those who do not know what bile is, I will give you a brief summary of its function in the body. Bile is a special chemical that our bodies make to help make stool softer and more slippery. This allows our stool to travel safely and easily through our bodies, all the way to the toilet. So, unsurprisingly, bile is a very important chemical. The problem is that our bodies will occasionally produce too much. When this happens, the excess bile will cause our poop to change color. This is because bile is naturally a bright green color, so it makes sense that when you pour a large amount of a green chemical into our poop, it will turn green too. And, fortunately for us, our bodies are pretty good at recognizing when they’re making too much bile, so they’ll correct themselves in a day or two.

Although many people have green poop at some point in their lives, it’s really nothing to worry about.