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Written by the OrganizedWisdom Team with as the reviewer. All original content is supervised by the The OrganizedWisdom Medical Review Team
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When a patient says he sees blood in the stool he is rarely wrong. The only thing that he can confuse with fresh blood (hematochezia) is a red dietary pigment that might escape digestion. The pigment in beets, if eaten in large quantities, can produce a dark red stool; this is more common in children than in adults. I suppose that other red dietary pigments could cause confusion too. If you are in doubt you can ask if the blood diffuses into the water of the toilet bowl. Fresh blood diffuses rather rapidly and turns the water a familiar light yellowish pink-red color, while beet pigment goes into solution without a change in color.
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