SCIENCE: Dyeing to know the answer

Here is a simple way to put an end to a lot of meaningless controversy that seems to waste so much of our time on this forum. A thread that comes up over and over is this: “Are these relatively soft, green objects that are usually expelled by flushing really from the liver or gallbladder? Perhaps they are just made of olive oil.”

We can each get this behind us permanently with a simple, safe experiment:

Next time you do a flush, add an extra ingredient: some harmless organic food coloring of a kind that is not affected by digestion. Suppose you use red food coloring. Then when the stone-like objects come out, if they are truly from the liver/gallbladder, cutting them open with a knife should reveal that the stones have green or brown interiors but are stained on the outside with red. If they are red inside, they were formed in the intestine during digestion.

The only question is what sort of coloring to use. I haven’t figured that out yet. Any suggestions? Bit of turmeric? Beet juice? Some red dye from the healthfood store? Again, it has to be something organic, harmless, and that isn’t affected by digestion.

Logically, there can be no denying that the results of such a test would be definitive. Of course, nothing will convince someone who has already decided the issue on an emotional basis, but I’m writing here to those who want to approach the issue in a reasonable way.

Let us know the results if you try this. I plan to do it myself next month after finding an appropriate coloring agent.

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