Bright red or maroon-coloured stools can be the result of consuming scarlet-coloured foods such as beetroot or dragon fruit. But occasionally, it could be a sign of bleeding. This happens when blood gets mixed with or covers the stools as it passes through the large intestine or rectum.
Yes, your poop and urine can turn red if you eat a lot of dragon fruit, which is thanks to red pigments in dragon fruit called betalains – which are normally broken down in the stomach and colon.
Like its red counterpart, the yellow dragon fruit is a natural laxative, offering almost 5 grams of fiber for every six-ounce serving. Most of the fiber in dragon fruit is soluble fiber, which dissolves in water, softening stools and acting like a sponge to carry cholesterol out of the body.
Dragon Fruit Health Risks
If you eat enough red dragon fruit, it might turn your pee pink or red. This symptom looks more alarming than it actually is. The same thing can happen if you eat a lot of beets. Your pee should turn back to its normal color once the fruit is out of your system.
Dragon fruit is a delicious and nutritious fruit that can be a healthy addition to your diet in moderation. However, eating too many can lead to some side effects, such as diarrhea, stomach upset, allergic reactions, and interference with medications.
Some people might be allergic to dragon fruit. Pregnancy and breast-feeding: There isn't enough reliable information to know if dragon fruit is safe when used in medicinal amounts when pregnant or breast feeding. Stay on the safe side and stick to food amounts. Diabetes: Dragon fruit might lower blood sugar levels.
Dragon Fruit has a high fibre content and helps clean out the system, keeping poor digestion and constipation at bay. In fact, the type of fibre it has can even help reduce risk of certain cancers, heart disease, manage Type 2 diabetes and obesity.
Yellow dragon fruit isn't a cleanse or a detox. It's simply a fruit, and its effects on the bowels are a sign it's “just doing its job as a fiber-filled fruit,” Largeman-Roth points out. That said, the fruit does help to move things along in your digestive tract, especially if you're drinking fluids, Taub-Dix says.
Certain foods may cause your stools to look red. These include cranberries, tomatoes, beets, or food that is dyed red. Other foods may cause your stools to look black. These include blueberries, dark leafy vegetables, or black licorice.
Red dragon fruit can cause your pee to become pink or red if you consume enough of it. This symptom appears to be far more serious than it is. If you consume a lot of beets, something similar can happen. When the fruit is no longer in your system, your urine should return to its usual color.
Mary Sabat, RDN, says, “Eating dragon fruit daily may provide some health benefits, such as improved digestion, a boost of antioxidants, and more fiber. Although dragon fruit is generally considered to be healthy food, it is important to be aware that eating too much of any food can be harmful to your health.
According to the review published in the Journal of Neurogastroenterology and Motility, it takes about 30 to 40 hours to digest most foods, including fruit.
Maroon stools
Maroon colored stools are often due to bleeding in the GI tract. The source of bleeding for red stools is the upper GI tract (esophagus, stomach, duodenum), while the colon is the source for bright red blood.
A. Eating one whole dragon fruit is generally safe since it is low in calories. Although dragon fruit is good for health, too much of everything is bad. Over Consumption may cause allergic reactions in some people.
Red dragon fruit peel is a potential source of red color for food coloring. Its natural origin is meeting the consumers' preference for healthier food products. Furthermore, red dragon fruit peel is applicable as an alternative source of natural food coloring agent that doesn't have any adverse effect to the health.
When ripe, dragon fruit have a bright pink color and smooth skin. The skin should have few brown spots. Squeeze it slightly; if it's firm and hard, it's not yet ripe. If it is softer (but not too soft) and the flesh gives slightly when squeezed, it's a good sign that it's perfectly ripe.
Maroon or purple stool: This is caused by intestinal bleeding (usually in the small intestine or first part of the colon), ulcers, tumors, Crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis, or infections.
Blood from your stool could look bright red, or it might be dark red or black. How the blood looks depends on where it is coming from. Spots of red blood on the toilet paper, drops in the toilet bowl, blood on the surface of your stool or in your underwear indicate the bleeding is coming from the anus or lower rectum.
Blood from higher up in the bowel doesn't look bright red. It goes dark red or black and can make your poo look like tar. This type of bleeding can be a sign of cancer higher up the bowel.
Yes, dragon fruit is good for weight loss. The fruit is low in calories and fat, and it is a good source of fiber. In addition, dragon fruit can help to boost your metabolism and burn more calories. So, if you are looking to lose weight, eating dragon fruit every day can be a helpful addition to your diet.
Dragon fruit can be considered as a superfood, being low in calories but high in fibre, antioxidants, phytonutrients, vitamins and minerals, and containing healthy fatty acids and probiotics. Antioxidants are essential to protect cells from free radical damage, which cause chronic disease and ageing.
The health-promoting potential of pitaya fruit is due to the presence of bioactive compounds related to numerous benefits such as anti-diabetic, anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, anti-cancer, and antimicrobial.
We get most of our daily iron intake through meats, fish, nuts, and legumes. But dragon fruit is one of the few fruits that is high in iron (8% of the DRI)—essential for the production of hemoglobin, which assists red blood cells in moving oxygen throughout the body's tissues.
When is the best time to have it? While morning is considered to be the best time to consume fruits as the digestive system breaks down the fruit sugar quickly and provides it with all the nutrients, the dragon fruit can be had as a mid meal or in the night, too.