Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About Poop

Poop is the nice way of saying feces. Which is a Latin word (faeces in fact) which is a plural of faex which means "dregs".

Pooping is a process by which the waste products of metabolism are removed or eliminated from an organism. The waste matter is discharged from the bowels as excrement. The waste products include residue of food together with bacteria, cells from the intestinal lining and secretions (mainly from the liver), water, carbon dioxide, nitrogen-containing compounds, such as ammonia, urea, uric acid, and various salts, such as sodium chloride.

Pooping is necessary for all living organisms because it removes from the body substances that are not useful. If allowed to accumulate, the wastes would poison the body's cells.

From start to finish: the oseophagus passes food from mouth to stomach, where it is churned and partly digested. Next, duodenum continues digestion; the remainder of small intestine (ileum) completes digestion and absorbs digested food. About every four hours the contents of the small intestine are discharged into the large intestine through a valve. The caecum and colon of the large intestine absorb excess water. Indigestible residue from previous day's intake collects in the rectum for disposal. This left behind residue is called the feces. It consists of 70 percent water, worn-out and discarded epithelial cells, indigestible cellulose, salts (especially calcium phosphate and iron), and many bacteria. From there it exits via the anus as poop!

• Poop produced from a diet consisting exclusively of carbohydrates are similar in composition to those produced from a diet consisting exclusively of proteins.
• In starvation, the poop are reduced in quantity and almost black in color
• A bulky poop is produced by foods rich in cellulose.
• The diet of the human fetus is entirely liquid, but shortly after the child is born it evacuates a semisolid, dark greenish-brown poop known as meconium.
• Black poop may be from large amounts of blood being present or indicate excessive bile functioning.
  
  An ulcer or cancer in the stomach or large intestine causes small amounts of blood to be present in the poop.
• Bleeding from the lower portion of the intestine or from the anus (hemorrhoids) produces unaltered blood in the poop, coloring it bright red.
• A light-colored or fatty poop may indicate a pancreas disturbance
• Constipation may produce a hard drier poop and often take the shape of round balls coated with mucus.
• Indigestion may cause a soft and watery poop.
• A meat diet can cause a darker poop while a milk diet will cause a lighter color.
• High amounts of iron, bismuth or manganese can cause a dark poop.
• In obstructive jaundice, the poop is pale in colour and very offensive.
• In young children suffering from diarrhcea, the poop is green due to bacterial decomposition.
• Ribbon-like poop may result from some obstruction in the large intestine.
  
• Rectal polypus may cause a groove along the poop.
• A "pea-soup" like poop arises in typhoid fever.
• Cholera can cause a "rice-water" effect to the poop.
• Slimey poop may arise from colitis.
  

Stoppage of Bowels, Obstruction of Intestine.

This condition may be "acute" when the canal is suddenly and completely blocked; or "chronic" when it is narrowed gradually.

Obstruction may be due to causes external to the bowel, such as pressure from tumours of neighbouring organs; or it may result from compression by bands of tissue produced by chronic peritonitis. Poop grown solid, gall-stones or foreign bodies may cause blockage. Strangulation of a knuckle of bowel owing to hernia is a frequent cause of intestinal obstruction in adults.

Constipation, Stasis of Intestine

Constipation is the sluggish or infrequent bowel movements characterized by hard, dry poop. Constipated patients often complain of headache, feelings of loginess, and distension of the abdomen. However, it is uncertain whether these symptoms are really due to constipation or to the patient's conviction that he will feel bad if he does not have a daily bowel movement. Constipation is not harmful except for the discomfort it may provoke and the rectal irritation that may accompany passage of the poop because of its hard, dry character. There is little evidence that people who are constipated absorb any harmful toxins from the colon.

The condition can usually be relieved by drinking adequate fluids, eating laxative foods, such as fruits, vegetables, and cereals, and by establishing routine evacuation habits.

Constipation that develops suddenly in people who have previously had normal functioning of the bowel may be a symptom of a serious disorder. Any sudden change in bowel habits should be reported to a physician.

Methods of pooping vary considerably. In one-celled animals, such as amebas and paramecia, carbon dioxide and ammonia pass directly from the organism to the environment through the cell membrane. Single-celled animals in fresh water pump out excess water by a special hollow structure, called the contractile vacuole. In simple multicellular animals, such as sponges and coelenterates, carbon dioxide and ammonia are excreted in the same way as in one-celled animals. The method by which sponges and coelenterates eliminate water is not clearly understood. In higher animals, wastes are removed by various kinds of special structures or organs.

Unlike animals, plants do not have special structures or organs that excrete wastes. All the waste products are lost to the environment through the cell walls at the surface of the plant. In single-celled plants, such as some algae and yeasts, and in simple multicellular plants, such as mosses, excretion occurs over the plant's entire surface. In more highly developed plants, wastes are lost through the leaves.