Aaron D. Wieland wrote:
> Don Wiss wrote:
> >I have seen people on the vegetarian list argue that one should have a BM
> >for each meal eaten, and it should float.
>
> I had never heard that floating bowel movements were desirable.  I thought
> that this is supposed to be a sign of fat malabsorption.

Floating bowel movements may be related to both fibre (as the vegetarians
seem to be implying) AND fat malabsorption. I've read that meals high in
insoluble fibre speed through the intestines so quickly that the fat (along
with everything else) in the meal is digested less completely. Of course,
many vegetarians would think that fat malabsorption is a blessing.

I've read a physician claiming that non-floating BMs are a sure sign of
inadequate dietary fibre. This has always seemed like a load of crap (pun
intended) to me for several reasons. First, has anyone really done a study
to determine the correlation between floatation and fibre intake? Who would
WANT to do that study? Second, a diet high in whole grains produces BMs so
large that you can't even tell whether they float or not.