Stool Color Chart: What Your Poop Color Means
Quick answer: Normal stool is medium-to-dark brown. Most color changes are harmless and come from food, bile, or how fast things move through your gut. But a few colors are worth attention: pale/white, black and tarry, or red stools can signal a problem and should be checked by a clinician. Use the chart below to decode yours — and remember that a persistent change matters more than a one-off.
The stool color chart
Your poop's color is set by three things: bile (the yellow-green fluid that turns brown as it travels), what you ate, and transit time — how long stool spends in your gut, which your microbiome helps regulate. Tap a color to decode it.
Brown stool — the healthy baseline
Normal. Medium-to-dark brown is what you want. It's the color of stercobilin, a pigment made as bile is broken down on its way through your gut. Day-to-day shade shifts with diet and are nothing to worry about.
Green stool — what green poop means
Usually harmless. The most common causes of green poop are eating lots of leafy greens or green/blue food coloring, taking iron supplements, or stool moving through the gut quickly — so bile doesn't have time to fully break down from green to brown. Fast transit often comes with loose stools or a recent stomach bug.
When to look closer: persistent green stool with ongoing diarrhea can reflect a gut that's clearing too fast or an imbalance in the bacteria that process bile.
Yellow stool — what yellow poop means
Often diet-related. A one-off yellow tint is usually food. But greasy, pale-yellow, foul-smelling stool that floats can mean fat isn't being absorbed properly (steatorrhea) — sometimes tied to how bile and digestive enzymes are working, or to fast transit.
Orange stool — what orange poop means
Usually harmless. Orange poop is most often from beta-carotene — carrots, sweet potato, squash — or from foods with orange coloring, and some antacids or medications. It typically clears when the food does.
When to look closer: if orange stool shows up without an obvious dietary cause and sticks around, it can reflect reduced bile reaching the gut — worth mentioning to a clinician.
Pale, clay or white stool
Worth checking. Consistently pale, clay-colored or white stool can mean bile isn't reaching your gut — which points to the liver, gallbladder or bile ducts rather than the stool itself. Certain medications (like some anti-diarrheals) can also lighten stool temporarily.
Black or tarry stool
Worth checking. Harmless causes include iron supplements, bismuth (Pepto-Bismol), and dark foods like black licorice or blueberries. But black, sticky, tar-like stool can signal bleeding higher in the digestive tract, where blood darkens as it travels.
Red stool or blood in stool
Worth checking. Red can be harmless — beets, tomato, and red food coloring all do it. But bright red streaks can be blood from lower in the gut (often hemorrhoids or a small tear), and red mixed through stool warrants evaluation.
White specks or white stuff in stool
Usually benign. Small white specks are most often undigested food (seeds, grains, nuts) or mucus, which the gut lining normally produces. A little mucus is normal.
When to look closer: lots of mucus, white specks that look like grains of rice or move, or white specks with pain or diarrhea should be checked — occasionally they point to a parasite or infection.
What your stool color says about your gut
Color is a surface signal of deeper things: how fast your gut moves, how well bile is flowing, and how your microbiome is processing what you eat. A single odd-colored stool is almost always food. A persistent change — especially in shape, frequency and comfort together — is your gut telling you the underlying ecosystem has shifted.
That underlying ecosystem is measurable. Instead of guessing from color alone, you can sequence your gut microbiome and see which bacteria are actually driving your digestion, transit and regularity.
Stop guessing from the color. See what's actually in your gut.
Flore sequences your microbiome with clinical-grade shotgun metagenomics — then builds a formula matched to what your gut is missing. Test, treat, retest.
Explore the Flore gut test →Stool color FAQ
What color should healthy poop be?
Medium-to-dark brown. That color comes from bile pigments breaking down as stool passes through your gut. Small day-to-day shifts with diet are normal.
Is green poop bad?
Usually not. Green poop most often comes from leafy greens, green or blue food dye, iron supplements, or stool moving through the gut quickly so bile doesn't fully break down. Persistent green stool with diarrhea is worth checking.
What does yellow poop mean?
A one-off yellow tint is usually food. Greasy, pale-yellow, floating, foul-smelling stool can mean fat isn't being absorbed well and, if it persists beyond a week or two, should be evaluated by a clinician.
Which stool colors are a warning sign?
Pale or white stool, black tarry stool, and red stool or visible blood are the colors worth medical attention — especially if they persist or come with pain, weight loss, dark urine or yellowing skin.
What do white specks in stool mean?
Usually undigested food or normal mucus. Large amounts of mucus, or white specks that resemble grains of rice or appear to move, should be checked as they can occasionally indicate a parasite or infection.
This guide is for education and does not diagnose, treat or replace medical care. If you have persistent changes in stool color, blood in your stool, or other warning signs, see a licensed clinician.