Jul 31, 2008

Oily Orange Diarrhea

I woke up this morning and went to toilet to do my usual business. When I got up, there was this orangy oil on the toilet bowl. No bulky stool, just the oil.

At first I though it might be dirt and grease because the toilet hasn’t been washed for some time. But when I wipe my ass backside, I saw more yellow oil! I was so freaked out. The oil stinks, and it reminded me of cod liver oil.

Terrified, I went to google it up. And I found that apparently, this oily diarrhea is not uncommon and this condition is called steatorrhea. It is the result of our body excreting indigestible fats. It can be caused by a lot of factors, like eating non-digestible oils or fats such as Olestra, and certain food.

One thing caught my eye when I was reading that article:

“Consuming escolar and oilfish (sometimes called butterfish) will often cause steatorrhea. The fish is commonly used in party catering due to its delicate flavor and the fact that it is cheap and readily available.”- Wikipedia

That’s it! It was caused by the stupid fish I ate. Upon reading that, I have two hypotheses:
1. The fish head noodle I ate yesterday in one hawker stall.
2. The ‘codfish’ I ate two days ago in Manhattan Fish Market (MFM)

I was quite sure of hypothesis one because the noodle I ate was cheap and it was from a hawker stall. Besides, it was the most recent food I ate. So, I went to ask my friends who ate the same noodle yesterday and all of them were fine. All three of them were okay except me. Hm..ok, so maybe it wasn’t the noodle.

So, that leaves me with MFM ‘codfish’. But I was doubtful of that because I ate the fish 48 hours ago and it was high quality codfish, not some cheap butterfish! But I stumbled upon this article:

Hong Kong Oilfish controversy
Hong Kong's PARKnSHOP supermarket was selling oilfish as "cod fish (oilfish)" in its stores. Consumers ate the fish believing it is codfish, then suffered oily diarrhea as a result. Afterwards 14 complaints were filed against the supermarket chain, leading to an investigation by the Centre for Food Safety. ParkNShop has denied responsibility, claiming the fish is safe for human consumption. Nonetheless, the chain has since stopped selling the fish product.

AND ANOTHER!

Canadians fall ill after eating mislabelled oily fish
Some Canadians have taken ill after eating oilfish, a low-grade fish barely fit for human consumption that may have been mislabelled as cod, the federal food watchdog says.
Oilfish — also known as escolar and snake mackerel — contains high amounts of a waxy type of oil. The fish is indigestible for about one in every two people, causing diarrhea as a side-effect.

I was SURE of hypothesis two when I saw this forum:

“Nothing to be afraid or ashamed of. I was worried initially too until I learned more about it. Up to 20% of the weight of these fish is an undigestible wax esther, which passes right through you. It's orange, and has a faint mineral oil smell. It will stain clothes and furniture. I thought it might be useful to others to note that my first obvious symptoms were 36-48 hours after eating the escolar. So one needs to look farther back than what one has eaten in the past day. Look on the bright side--your backside just got a great moisturizing treatment!”

LOL. My backside is so smooth now.

But that’s just my hypothesis. I have no one to ask because I ate the ‘codfish’ alone. So, maybe one of you could try MFM ‘Codfish’ and let me know if you’re alright or not. It’s a shame because the meal was expensive.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

hehe joan..i planned to go MFM before read ur blog.. but now..
hehe btw, when u wanna show me ur new hair?

*elaine*

jy said...

hehe... elaine, go la. Go try the 'codfish'...very nice one...:P
Then u can have smooth backside like me...haha

new hair cut? wait til after my finals lor.. now no time and no camera.. Dont worry, i will make sure u get the first exclusive picture of my new image! hahaha... Totally FOC somemore. Talk about good fren! Hahaha..

Anonymous said...

Regarding the oily orange/yellow diarrhea - that is exactly what I was graced with this morning. IN THE CAR on my way to work! And guess what I ate two days ago? Mackarel - apparently "queen Mackarel" but has a snake-like skin. So now I know who to slap with a wet fish... Thanks for posting the info, looks like our overfishing the seas is taking its toll.

Simply Life said...

Hi, thanks for the info. I too experienced the same embrassing sympton, after eating the "Pacific Cod" in Manhattan Fish Market in Sunway Mall. Will never go to that restrauant again and will tell all my friends about this unprofessional restrauant. Take care.

Simply Life said...

Hi, thanks for the info. I too experienced the same embrassing sympton, after eating the "Pacific Cod" in Manhattan Fish Market in Sunway Mall. Will never go to that restrauant again and will tell all my friends about this unprofessional restrauant. Take care.