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What causes clay-colored stools?
We can call it clay-colored stools, pale or even white stools. Either way, it is noticeable that the primary pigments are gone. This is a common sign of liver disease because it is in the liver that bilirubin is metabolized and collected. A bile obstruction and inflammatory problems of the liver could be the cause. A reduction in metabolic capacity to process bilirubin may also cause clay-colored stools. In such cases, an insufficient volume of bile is secreted to the intestines, there is no pigment to turn the stools into a brownish color, and now it looks whitish or pale.
When a liver condition causes pale stools, this is accompanied by a few other symptoms such as jaundice and dark-colored urine. The bile is no longer changing the color of your poop. Instead, it remains in the blood and collects in different tissues, especially the skin and mucosa. The skin adopts a yellowish tone known as jaundice, and so it happens with the oral mucosa and the white portion of the eyes. There is an excess of bilirubin in the blood, and the kidneys try to compensate by eliminating bilirubin through the urine. Instead of collecting in the stools and changing their color, bilirubin is now being eliminated and tainting the urine.
