Black stool from certain foods?

I was wondering if anyone has ever gotten a black stool from certain foods. This morning mine was MOSTLY black--except for some undigested mushrooms. For dinner last night, I had two glasses of wine, spinach, mushrooms, and my mother's slow-cooked prime rib (DELICIOUS!). I've heard that red meats, spinach, venison, things like that can turn a stool black, is this true? I've had IBS for some time now, don't really have much stomach pain right now, had a bit of diarrhea last night (only a couple hours after I ate, I suspect it was unrelated to what I ate previously). At any rate, my stool has pretty much been completely normal colored up until this morning. Any thoughts? I'm freaking out unnecessarily I feel.

When blood is digested, it turns dark in color and your observation likely represents some portion of the need for you to initially inquire since the presence of black or tarry stools can suggest the presence of a problem. Not so in this case. Also realize that over-the-counter antacid preparations will readily turn stool a dark or black color due to the large magnesium content.

I see nothing of your complaint or inquiry that would draw suspicion of a problem of any kind.

You're fine.

Best regards,

Rutheford Rane, MD (ret.)

So my mom said iron gives stools a blacker appearance. I just had another bowel movement and it was much more liquidy, but definitely dark green in appearance. Can this be normal? Should i just wait for my next bowel movement and see if it goes back to normal? I'm still freaking out...

However my stomach pains dissiated after relieving myself. I know I'm young and unlikely to have any major problems but I'm scared. :(

Well, you need to relax. There's nothing actually wrong with you. Colored stools, particularly green, mean absolutely nothing and is entirely normal. Once your mind begins to focus on any chance that something is going terribly wrong, you will become vigilent to any change no matter how subtle, which only serves to make your fears grow worse.

I've given considerable thought to your circumstances and have thoroughly read your postings. There is nothing among your symptoms that would indicate anything to worry about. Relaxing will also help your GI symptoms dissipate as well.

You'll be just fine.

Rutheford Rane, MD (ret.)

Thanks for the quick reply. It really helps put me at ease. I've been experiencing minor GI symptoms for quite a few weeks now and they've never gotten terribly worse. this is probably the most dramatic change so far (my stool was pretty much a pile of really dark green goo). However perhaps this is temporary and stress related, as i have been thinking about this issue all day.

Hi Fledylids,

Iron can have an effect on the colour of stools, just your body getting rid of the excess.

Chrissy xx

The darkening of stools is mostly attributed to foods containing high levels of iron.... this, need I add, is VERY good for you. The treatment for anaemia is ferrous sulphate... iron tablets. Because of the concentration of iron, it can turn stools almost black. Foods rich in iron are things like green vegetables and red meat. Many people forget that stools are comprised of digested and partially digested food... hence the amount of people that see red in their stools and figure its blood when in actual fact it is red pepper they ate the night before.

Food aside, your stools are coloured by the presence of bile and bilirubin (dead red blood cells) so naturally, with the amount of variables, changes in darknes as well as consistency are inevitable on a daily basis depending on diet and health as well as other contributing factors like stress. Most digestive problems are caused by your diet alone and are corrected as simply.

If you actually look at the things you ate the night before you may understand the likely cause:

mushrooms - when you cook mushrooms they turn black.
Two glasses of wine - also very dark in colour and containing tannin
spinach - very high in iron, resulting in very dark bowel motions
prime rib - hard to digest and packed with iron

There is nothing wrong at all with the food or drink you consumed. It is a healthy diet in terms of nutrition...very good in fact, so I would assume it was the large quantity of nutrients and iron as well as the high protein and the darkening from the bilirubin that caused the colour change. Keep an eye on it, but rule out the most common first.

Hope this helped a bit.

I do have very dark stools almost to black when i eat Black Fungus vegetable.. i don't know why but it turn all dark and i have to check my stools and realise there are tiny pieces of black fungus in it. Black Fungus are high in iron too .. i guess?