Question: Why is Poo brown?

The brown colour of poo comes from a chemical called Stercobilin. Stercobilin starts off in the body as a chemical called Bilirubin. Bilirubin is produced inside the body and comes from used up and dead red blood cells. Bilirubin is also the substance that makes your wee-wee yellow!

The food we eat is all different colours, but by the time our bodies have taken what bits of the food it needs, all that is left is waste material that the body doesn't want. Sometimes eating very colourful food can change the colour of your poo but this is rare.

Poo can be all different shades of brown. A Doctor can tell how healthy you are by looking at the colour of your poo! If you are ill, the colour of the poo can help a Doctor find out what is wrong with you.