Poop Color Chart: What Every Stool Color Means

A poop color chart helps explain stool changes: brown is usually normal, while green, yellow and orange can reflect food or digestion. Red or black stool may signal bleeding, and pale or clay-colored stool can suggest reduced bile flow. Symptoms and persistence help determine what needs medical attention.

An unexpected shade can make an ordinary bathroom visit feel like detective work. Start with the chart, then consider what you ate, any medicines you take and how you feel. This guide focuses on adults; it is educational, not a way to diagnose yourself.

Poop color chart: What do the different colors mean?

Use this stool color chart as a starting point, not a verdict. The same shade can have more than one explanation.

Stool color	Food or medicine explanations	Possible medical explanation and next step
Brown	Usual variation with diet	Generally normal; symptoms still matter.
Green	Leafy greens, food coloring, iron	Fast movement through the gut, sometimes with diarrhea; seek advice if persistent or accompanied by illness.
Yellow	Yellow-orange foods or fatty meals	Poor fat absorption, especially if repeatedly greasy; arrange evaluation if ongoing.
Black	Iron, bismuth, dark foods	Digestive bleeding; unexplained or tarry black stool needs urgent assessment.
Red	Beets or red food dye	Bleeding from the bowel or rectum; seek prompt advice if unexplained or visibly bloody.
Pale, white or clay	Certain medicines or barium used for imaging	Reduced bile flow; contact a clinician promptly.
Orange	Carrots, squash, sweet potatoes or dyes	Often dietary; persistent unexplained changes need review.

The chart summarizes guidance from Mayo Clinic and Cleveland Clinic; the sections below explain the important differences between a temporary tint and a warning sign.

What is a normal poop color?

Normal poop color includes a range of browns, from lighter brown to dark brown. Bile—a digestive fluid that helps process fats—changes color as it travels through the gut, contributing to stool's usual brown shade. Green can also fall within normal variation.

Brown poop: Look beyond the shade

Brown is reassuring as a color, but it is not a complete health check. Stool should generally be soft, formed and easy to pass. Hard pellets, repeated watery stools or painful bowel movements deserve attention even when the color looks familiar.

For help describing texture, see our Bristol Stool Chart. Keep separate notes for color and form rather than trying to squeeze everything into “normal” or “not normal.”

Why is my poop green, yellow or orange?

These shades are not automatically danger signals. Food pigments, digestive speed and fat absorption can all affect the result, so accompanying symptoms make a difference.

Green poop

Green poop can follow spinach, kale or strongly colored treats. It can also happen when stool moves through the intestine quickly, as with diarrhea: bile has less time to change from green to brown. Iron supplements are another possible explanation.

A one-off green bowel movement while you feel well is different from repeated green, watery stools with fever or cramps. Infections can cause diarrhea, but color alone cannot identify the germ—or establish that there is an infection at all.

Instead of asking only “How green is it?”, note whether you are going more often and whether the stool is loose. Those details give your description useful context.

Yellow poop

Yellow poop can reflect foods containing yellow-orange pigments. Yellow diarrhea can also occur with a stomach bug when stool moves quickly through the intestines. People who have had their gallbladder removed may experience bile-related diarrhea as well.

Repeated yellow stools that are greasy, loose or floating can point toward excess fat in the stool. The medical term is steatorrhea. Causes include problems breaking down or absorbing fat, such as celiac disease or reduced pancreatic digestive enzymes. A yellow shade by itself does not establish any of these conditions.

For ongoing episodes, ask a clinician about evaluation rather than picking a diagnosis from a color chart. Mention whether the change follows meals and whether it is becoming more frequent.

Orange poop

Orange poop often has a food explanation. Large amounts of carrots or carrot juice, sweet potatoes, squash and pumpkin can shift the shade. Food dyes can also leave their mark. Your lunch sometimes makes a colorful exit.

If you feel well, check recent meals before assuming something is wrong. A food-related tint should fade once the food has passed through. Persistent unexplained color, especially with pain, fever, fatigue or weight loss, deserves medical advice.

Try to describe what you actually see: “orange-brown” is more useful than simply “pale.” If you are unsure, say so instead of forcing the color into a category.

Does black or red stool always mean blood?

No—foods and medicines can imitate these colors. But unexplained black or red stool should not be dismissed, because both can indicate bleeding. Seek prompt medical attention rather than relying on appearance to rule it out.

Black stool

Iron supplements and medicines containing bismuth can darken stool. Dark foods can do the same. However, black, tarry stool can be a sign of bleeding higher in the digestive tract, such as the stomach.

Do not use a recent iron tablet as automatic proof that black stool is harmless. Tell the clinician what you take and whether the stool is tarry, rather than deciding on the explanation yourself. If you feel faint, dizzy or short of breath, seek emergency help.

Red stool

Beets and red food coloring can make stool look red. Actual blood may appear on toilet paper, on the stool or mixed into it. Hemorrhoids and anal fissures are possible causes, but other bowel conditions can also bleed.

A small streak after a hard bowel movement is different from a large amount of blood, but neither should be diagnosed by color alone. Ask for medical advice about new or recurring bleeding, even if you suspect hemorrhoids.

When you call, describe the amount and where you noticed it. “A streak on the paper” gives a clearer picture than “the toilet looked red.”