1 The Glossary of Education Reform by Great Schools Partnership is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. 2  Recommended APA Citation Format Example: Hidden curriculum (2014, August 26). In S. Abbott (Ed.), The glossary of education reform.
False MelanaA black stool caused by food, supplements, medication, or minerals is known as false melena.. Iron supplements, taken alone or as part of a multivitamin for iron-deficient anemia, may cause stools to be black or even greenish in color. Foods that are dark blue or black in color may also cause black stools. Substances that can cause false melena are:
The iron in your body is called elemental iron.. Oral iron supplements contain different amounts of elemental iron. When you choose a supplement, be sure to check the label to see how much elemental iron it contains; a greater amount means that more iron will be absorbed by your body. Although the supplements work best on an empty stomach, you may want to take them with food so that they don't upset your stomach. 2  You shouldn't take iron supplements with milk, caffeine, antacids, or calcium supplements. 3  These can decrease the amount of iron that is absorbed.