Stool Colors, pigments, ironUpdated 2 months ago

Q: Do your vitamins contain pigmented ingredients or ingredients that when 1) mixed with acid or bile or 2) metabolized by intestinal flora can cause a change of stool color?

A: No pigments are added to FoodState Nutrients other than our recently added Multi-vitamin chews which include vegetable juice for color. With that said, many of the fruits and vegetables used in our products do contain natural pigments (i.e. blueberries, beets) as well as acid - or bile-labile compounds that may react or be metabolized in the gastrointestinal tract. However, it is likely that whatever colors are generated in the stool by consuming recommended doses of whole food dietary supplements are overwhelmed by those generated from indigenous pigments ingested as part of the daily diet. By way of example, the average whole food supplement daily dose weighs between 1 and 3 grams whereas the average stool weighs 123 grams. Thus indigenous pigments ingested are in excess of 41 times more concentrated than those that may be found in a typical dietary supplement daily dose.

Can your iron cause my stool to darken? 

Some people have reported that taking iron supplements may give them dark stools. However, we always advise that you talk to your doctor as there may be another underlying issue that may be causing this.