Undigested Food

hjr

Not to be disgusting but does anybody find that after eating certain foods that the body doesn't digest them properly. I mean if I eat peppers, then the next day i can see peppers when I c**p. Got into a panic first cos i thought it was blood, but it only appears after I eat peppers.

Anyone else have this problem with peppers or any other food or is it just me?

irlirishkev

It's not a 'problem' persay.. it's just that your body doesn't digest some foods as well as others. It also varies from one person to another. Sweetcorn is another familiar sight for those who would take an interest..

K.

kenmc

sweet corn for me too. aparently peanuts will pass through whole if not chewed also!

Peace

Sweetcorn passes as if ready to go back in the tin....

hjr

You would think that vegetables would be the first to breakdown in the body.

kasintahan

hjr wrote:

You would think that vegetables would be the first to breakdown in the body.

Na, any junior cert science student will tell you that cellulose is not broken down in the human stomach.

WhiteWashMan

careful now. im a junior cert science student, and i didnt know that

surely this should be onthe diet board.

we do have a diet board dont we?

Tobias Greeshman

kasintahan wrote:

Na, any junior cert science student will tell you that cellulose is not broken down in the human stomach.

hmm I musta been missing the day that they taught that!

Talliesin

irlirishkev wrote:

It's not a 'problem' persay.

Feeling compelled to examine it is.

Esel

I used to like peanut butter!

And the lesson for today is:

"Chew your food well, *especially* sweetcorn."

Gone West

the idea with nuts is that birds/other animals eat them and they c**p them out further away whole, thus planting a new seed, for example.

DrIndy

Chew your food properly.

Problem solved.

lacuna

It's not just a case of chewing your food properly. That just means that the food that isn't digested properly is merely in smaller pieces when it comes out the other end.
As kasintahan said, cellulose isn't broken down well in the stomach. That's why we generally cook vegetables, in order to soften the cellulose. That's why with most raw veg like peppers and sweetcorn, you get bits appears in your cr*p. I have some feeling that the appendix had some role in helping breaking up cellulose. (afaik, it does in rabbits.) In humans though it has no known function now.

Beruthiel

moved to Biology
B

John

The human stomach does not have the compartments and enzymes necessary to break down cellulose. Cows have four stomachs and chew the cud, giving cellulose a thorough breaking down. Rabbits on the other hand are coprophages, they eat the food, defecate and then eat it again. The indigestability of cellulose in humans is why we use it as roughage, it acts as a scouring material and helps keep your bowels clear.

Capt'n Midnight

It's the bacteria that break down the cellulose, IIRC it's only some types of beatles that can digest celluose without the help of gut microbes.

John

You're right capt'n, I'm so engrossed with brains at the moment that I've forgotten all my basic biology.

LITTLE PASTA

I don’t think there is cellulose in corn or peppers. What I mean is, I don't think the pericarp contains the huge amounts of cellulose that grasses and wood do.
As far as I know the main components for all varieties of corn contain various ratios of amylose and amylopectin. Is that stuff digestible? Corn is a main source of food for many people. How do people live off it if it can't be digested??
I don't really know.

--C

John

LITTLE PASTA wrote:

I don’t think there is cellulose in corn or peppers. What I mean is, I don't think the pericarp contains the huge amounts of cellulose that grasses and wood do.
As far as I know the main components for all varieties of corn contain various ratios of amylose and amylopectin. Is that stuff digestible? Corn is a main source of food for many people. How do people live off it if it can't be digested??
I don't really know.

--C

It's the outside of the corn that's indigestible, that's why you only either see the outside or full corns in your poop. To get the nourishment you need to chew it up or mash the whole lot so that you can digest the insides of the corn.

LITTLE PASTA

That's what I thought. Thanks