Questions tagged [digestion]
The physiological process of breaking down food into its constituent parts to provide nutrition for the body.
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Can Fluoride be absorbed into the blood from within the mouth without swallowing?
I'm having a discussion with somebody regarding Fluoride usage. I told him that even if he doesn't like the idea of ingesting it, brushing and spitting it out will do you no harm. He then said this:
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Why does flatulence vary in temperature and smell?
Quite simply, why do some farts feel warmer than others? Some feel regular, while others feel like lava. What causes this?
If there is no real temperature difference, why do I perceive some to be ...
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Does poop have protein?
Popular health advice suggests that one shouldn't consume >30g of protein at a time (without a gap of ~3 hours, or otherwise depending on the type of protein), because only so much can be digested ...
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Why is livestock bad for the climate?
It is always told that eating meat is bad for our climate. This is most often explained by mentioning following reasons (Source):
Methane is produced when digesting the food and also the faeces of ...
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Is ghrelin only secreted when the stomach is empty?
Several texts indicate that ghrelin is secreted when the stomach is empty. However, some(not all) texts also indicate that ghrelin is secreted when blood sugar levels are low. Is the second statement ...
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Would fewer cows mean less methane emission?
Rotting grass produces the same amount of methane as cows that digest grass (see this source). So if cows did not eat the grass, it would still emit methane. Therefore, if there were fewer cows, would ...
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Does food continue to stay sequential once it is inside my body?
I may be very off on many scientific details here, but I'm always all ears.
As far as I understand, any food that is eaten goes to the stomach, gets broken down even further into smaller food ...
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Is gut bacteria Succinivibrionaceae's low methanogenesis understood well enough for GM of cattle gut bacteria to be considered?
After watching the Periodic Table of Videos episode linked in this question I watched the episode Wallabies and Methane where Sir Poliakoff says (a bit after 02:00):...
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Do sharks fart?
My son is 5 and I'm encouraging him to be curious and ask questions of the world around him.
He asked if sharks fart and how does it smell? He feels that it would smell of fish and be disgusting.
He ...
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Why aren't the antibodies in the mother's milk digested by the infant's digestive system?
Why aren't the antibodies in the mother's milk digested by the infant's digestive system?
Enzymes like pepsin have been found to be present in infant's digestive system(1). Though the pH in the ...
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How exactly is casein digested?
I mean it seems first step is rennin or pepsin digestion in stomach - then what happens with remaining peptides?
I am interested in the whole process from casein to amino acids.
Is there brush border ...
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Why does biomagnification of mercury occur more in large fish?
I love tuna so this question has been bugging me senselessly.
I am aware that larger fish tend to have more mercury concentration in their flesh than their prey, however, I don't understand how this ...
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Why can't humans digest dietary fiber when we can digest starch?
So, I can see that there's a couple of questions touching on this subject already, but none of them answer the aspect that I'm curious about:
Dietary fiber is a polymer composed of multiple starch ...
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Is raw meat or raw vegetables easier for humans to digest?
Which one is easier for a human digestive system to digest, raw meat or raw vegetables?
I have heard some of my friends who say that raw (or uncooked) meat is easier to digest than raw (or uncooked) ...
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is pepsin able to break down proteins into amino acids in human stomach? [closed]
I'm trying to find out if pepsin can break down proteins into amino acids after they are converted to peptides. Is pepsin able to separate amino acid monomers from the peptides?
can you please show me ...
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Why are prions in animal diets not destroyed by the digestive system?
According to CBC:
Mad cow disease is the common name for a condition known technically as bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or BSE. [...] The only known source of mad cow disease is from animal-...
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Why is wombat scat (feces) shaped like cubes?
I've heard that wombat scat is cube shaped, but I don't understand how that can happen. Has anyone studied the phenomenon? What would the evolutionary pressure have been to cause this?
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Does baking soda interfere with digestion when cooked into food?
Baking soda is useful for tenderizing meats and leavening baked goods. In the case of meats, it allegedly breaks down proteins/amino acids.
However, does this usage pose a risk to digestion? Could the ...
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Does Chewing Food Properly Ensure that we gain Less Fat?
We recently went to a fast-food corner and I was told by my sibling that even if we chew a burger properly(slowly) converting it into a fine bolus, then it would not affect the amount of fat gained by ...
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How are monosaccharides and amino acids absorbed in jejunum?
Duodenum receives bile from liver and Pancreatic juice from pancreas. Intestinal glands secrete Intestinal juice which acts at the ileum. Most of the absorption of food materials takes place in the ...
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Does hydrolysis of carbohydrates, proteins, and fats occur in the small intestine?
Does the hydrolysis of carbohydrates, proteins, and fats occur in the small intestine? I have researched this and just cannot seem to get a clear-cut answer. Perhaps I am misunderstanding something?
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Why can we eat salty food, but can't stomach salty water?
I know that too much sodium is bad for our health. However, it struck me as odd that we like to add salt to pasta sauce or other foods we eat, yet trying to drink salt water can bring on the gag ...
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How can we digest lactose even though it has Beta glycosidic linkages?
I have Read that we cannot digest cellulose because we do not have enzymes to digest Beta glycosidic linkages in Cellulose
Then how is it that we have an enzyme called Lactase to digest the Beta ...
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Parasympathetic effects on digestive tract - motility versus absorption
The parasympathetic nervous system's purpose is often referred to as "rest and digest." As part of this purpose, parasympathetic innervation increases motility in the digestive tract to move ...
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Do Termites and Silverfish metabolize cellulose the same way?
I am fascinated with silverfish and would like to understand more about their metabolism.
I learned that they can survive on a diet of cotton which is nearly pure cellulose. Do they metabolize ...
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What do spider digestive fluids look like?
What is the general appearance of the fluids that spiders use to digest their prey before they ingest it into the body?
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Do humans emit more carbon through respiration or defecation?
Where does most of the carbon we ingest go? I understand that a large amount is exhaled as carbon dioxide, but what percent is defecated (and theoretically deposited in the ground)?
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Carbohydrates in acidic stomach
How does the acidic environment in the stomach affect carbohydrate and fast digestion? Does it aid, impede or remain neutral in their digestive process?
Or do the carbohydrates, fats and proteins ...
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Human Digestion of Cellulose?
Most animals can digest the cellulose in grass because of the anaerobic bacteria called Fibrobacter succinogenes living in their rumen (gut). The bacteria produces the enzyme cellulase and is ...
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What happens when a human ingests a large meal, and after a short time follows it up with a large amount of indigestible carbs?
A human eats a large meal and indigestible carbs (IC) with such a timing that the IC arrive to the small intestine when it is already full and busy breaking down and absorbing the meal. What would ...
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Why do nattokinase and serratiopeptidase remain effective when given orally, but not insulin?
Why do nattokinase and serratiopeptidase not break down in the stomach and intestines?
Article says that serratiopeptidase is absorbed in rats intestines after oral intake - https://iubmb....
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Why do vertebrates have an oesophagus?
As far as I know, the oesophagus in vertebrates has no digestive or absorptive function. It is simply a conduit from the mouth to more distal parts of the gastrointestinal tract. Why have it at all, ...
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If humans had cellulase would they be able to digest grass?
Cellulase is an enzyme capable of breaking cellulose. If humans were able to produce cellulase in our stomach would we be able to digest grass? If not, what more things would we need in order to ...
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What allows grass eaters to digest cellulose?
Scientists are saying that it was a small step for the Panda to move from a meat diet to a grass diet. The article only refers to differences in the Panda's skull, presumably for better chewing.
I've ...
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Does animal based food contain molecules that behave like dietary fiber for humans?
I have read that dietary fiber is beneficial to human health in many ways, for example that it can help to reduce risk of colorectal cancer. However, when I look at nutrition labels on food it seems ...
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How do Apes get their Omega 3s in the wild given so few plant sources? Are they able to convert it to DHA?
Given so few plant sources(around 6-7) of ALA, how do Apes get ALA in the wild?
Are they able to convert it into DHA in satisfactory amounts?
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Is aquafaba readily digestible?
I have always drained and tossed the water from canned beans. My understanding has been that the water that canned beans are soaked and cooked in contains raffinose, the gas-causing sugars that humans ...
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Is the "first pass effect" diminished more by some foods than others?
This effect and its considerations are fairly well known but it's never been clear to me whether it's a greater consideration with some types of food than others.
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Relationship between immunologic response to specific gluten epitopes and clinical antibody testing
Celiac disease is understood to be an immune response to certain proteins which occur in a group of cereals; most commonly they are glutens (wheat), secalins (rye) and hordeins (barley). A clinical ...
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How are proteins reused in the body? [duplicate]
Part of what we eat are proteins,
and our body is in part build of proteins.
Are the proteins of the body build based on proteins in food at all?
Are proteins in food directly reused in the body,
or ...
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Is brewer's yeast a good source of protein for humans?
I read that brewer's yeast protein is not a "real protein" and is not usable by non-ruminants. Is that true?
If yes, how can I know what kind of protein is good for humans (especially athletes)
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Do we excrete waste in same order of food intake?
Obviously I do not expect we poop out molecule by molecule in exact order. All I am asking is, is it possible for us to pass stool's of today's food before we poop yesterday's food. Does our GI tract ...
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Is there evidence to suggest that nutrients in vitamin capsules are not as readily absorbed as the same nutrients in whole foods?
I recently fell ill with a cold, and began to take a vitamin C capsule each day to help my immune system. When I noticed no change in my condition, I began to incorporate an abundance of citrus into ...
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Why are nutrients from food absorbed more efficiently? [duplicate]
It seems to be common knowledge that micronutrients such as vitamins are more easily absorbed by your body when in your diet versus supplements such as pills.
I am wondering what the reasons for this ...
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Cellulase Sample Digestion Protocol?
Is there an effective way to use cellulase(s) and/or lignase(s) to remove unwanted plant debris from a sample?
I'm working with a series of fresh water grab samples for environmental assessment. The ...
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Human evolutionary innovation for rapidly restoring glycogen, and link to cardiovascular disease?
I'm a physicist, not a biologist, but I'm interested in human evolution and its link to the physiology of endurance sports. Circa August 2019, I read an article in the newspaper whose contents I'll ...
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Is sugar absorbed into the bloodstream through the walls of the mouth?
If you let a piece of candy melt in your mouth, but did not swallow it, would the sugar be absorbed through the walls of your mouth?
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How does the stomach handle continuous eating?
In biology class, we learned this familiar story: Food enters the stomach, the stomach churns it with acid and enzymes, and then, somehow, the stomach senses when the stew is ready and releases it ...
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Why is sugar absorbed very fast into the blood stream?
Recently, I heard from a pregnant person I know that immediately after she eats something sugary/sweet, the baby starts kicking and moving around, as if reacting to the sugar. She told me (...
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What are the differences between mammal and insect digestion of cellulose?
I know that digestion of cellulose is difficult in mammals and requires a lot of steps. But I am fascinated by the idea of one day achieving human digestion of cellulose.
Which got me thinking about ...
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