How to Read the Bristol Stool Chart
The Bristol Stool Chart is the clinical language of digestion. Here is what each of the seven types means — and how AI classifies them automatically.
The Bristol Stool Chart classifies stool into seven types, from hard lumps to liquid. It is the shared clinical language of digestion — and the basis for automatic AI classification.
The seven types
Types 1–2 indicate constipation, types 3–4 are considered ideal, and types 5–7 trend toward loose or liquid. Where you sit, and how it changes, says a great deal about hydration, fibre and transit time.
Why automation helps
Self-reporting Bristol type is subjective and easily forgotten. Computer vision classifies each event objectively against the scale in seconds, building a reliable pattern instead of a fuzzy memory.
- Types 1-2: hard, constipation
- Types 3-4: ideal form
- Types 5-7: loose to liquid
- Pattern over single events
“A single observation is noisy. The clinical value emerges from the pattern.”
Reading your own pattern
One event is noise; the distribution over weeks is signal. A drift toward 1–2 or 6–7 is your prompt to look at hydration, fibre, stress or diet.
