A doctor has urged people to do this one thing every time they go to the toilet. NHS surgeon Dr Karan Rajan – who is best known online as Dr Raj – implored Brits to check their toilet paper after wiping.
According to the expert, this can reveal some potentially dangerous health issues – including bowel cancer.
Speaking to his more than five million followers on social media platform TikTok, Dr Raj explained: “You need to start checking your toilet paper every time you wipe your chocolate coated buns, not just to make sure your chocolate starfish is squeaky clean. but to check if anything’s abnormal.”
More specifically, the colour of your poo will warn you of any problems. “Coloured stool of all different shades is normal,” he said. “Tinge of green can be normal too, especially if you have a high intake of leafy green vegetables.”
But if your stool is yellow you may wish to speak to your doctor. This can be a sign of a bowel infection, he said.
Or it could mean you have too much fat in the stool, which could be linked with a malabsorptive condition like coeliac disease.
However, if the toilet paper comes back red or black this could be more serious – signifying bleeding. DR Raj continued: “If you notice a bright red colour, assuming you’re not a beet-eating champion, this is a sign of bleeding in your lower intestine.
“Common causes include things like haemorrhoids or anal fissures. In rare cases it can be a sign of something more serious like Crohn’s disease or ulcerative colitis or even bowel cancer.
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“If you notice black when you wipe that can happen if you’re taking iron supplements or even anti-acid medication, but it’s often a sign of partially digested blood and could signify bleeding somewhere higher up in the digestive system and that’s not normal.”
On top of this, white-coloure stool could also be cause for concern. He added: “If you notice a pale, white or clay colour that could signify a blockage of the bile flow and could be associated with a liver or pancreas issue.”
If you spot any unusual colours on your toilet paper you should get it checked out, he said. Dr Raj added: “If you notice yellow, black, red or a pale colour on your toilet paper and it’s been going on for over three weeks with no changes to your diet or medication, don’t panic, chances are it’s something benign. But get it checked out.”