how long does it take to digest food?

Answer 1

It depends. Liquid food digests quicker. But the average time is 4 hours (in your stomach). At least that's what they tell us in Medicine School... :D

Answer 2

After putting the yummy stuff into your mouth, it (the bolus) then has to travel through the entire gastrointestinal tract before coming out the other end. The gastrointestinal tract for the purposes of this exercise includes the oral cavity, the oesophagus, stomach, small intestine, and colon.

Food travels down the oesophagus at a rate of approximately 3 to 4 centimetres per second (1 to 2 inches), and the entire process takes about 5 to 6 seconds. In the stomach, food tends to hang around for a little longer and this depends on a variety of factors including the amount of food you have consumed, how much fat it contains, and also the acidity of the stomach. However, all food should have left the stomach within 2 to 4 hours.

In the small intestine, digestion continues and absorption occurs. From here on, the time to defecation will vary depending on the time it takes to adequately digest and absorb in the small intestine. This will usually take 5 to 6 hours. The "food then enters the colon for further digestion and water reabsorption before defecation. The time from it’s entering the colon to defecation is about 12 to 24 hours.

Thus, the time for food to travel from one end to the other probably ranges from about 20 to 30 hours. Although I haven’t had the time to look further into the rest of your question, I hazard a guess that it is unlikely that meat will hang around for a week given that the gastrointestinal tract is very effective in breaking it down with various enzymes and acidity of the stomach. Foods high in protein and fats probably would probably take a little longer to pass through than if it were carbohydrate.

Answer 3

Food travels down the oesophagus at a rate of approximately 3 to 4 centimetres per second (1 to 2 inches), and the entire process takes about 5 to 6 seconds. In the stomach, food tends to hang around for a little longer and this depends on a variety of factors including the amount of food you have consumed, how much fat it contains, and also the acidity of the stomach. However, all food should have left the stomach within 2 to 4 hours.

Answer 4

Digestion actually begins with the smelling of the food. Then your saliva begins to break down the foods as you eat them. But the major factor in digestion is how high or low you metabolism is. The higher the metabolism the faster it gets broken down. Typically 6 hours in the average human though.

Answer 5

different food different time (and combination slow it further)

This is a very general question. It depends on the
food...some are quickly digested...like simple carbohydrates (cooked rice) and some are much slower like complex carbs (beans). It also depends on what part of the food that you are asking about. Foods contain starch, fat, oils, protein, nucleotides etc. which each have different mechanisms and rates of digestion. If you eat a Snickers bar you will digest the sugar
quite quickly...matter of minutes whereas the nuts take hours. As far as how often you should eat is even more controversial. I believe we as hunter gatherers evolved to eat small meals of nuts, fruits, and vegetables often and, on rare occasions gorge on a big meal of meat or fish. I of course
being Italian think that the main reason for living is to eat (edeo ergo sum...I eat therefore I am) ..so I might not be the best person to ask.

It takes several days for food to make its way all the way through your system (that is differnet from digestion as that happen is a stomach.. and the rest..... going out slowely)


Digestion Time Of Foods

1 1/4 Hours
parsley

1 1/2 Hours
lemon
Irish moss

1 3/4 Hours
avocado
grapes
mango
olive, ripe
raspberry

2 Hours
blueberry
sweet cherry
grapefruit
orange
raisin
coconut milk
artichoke
beet greens
garlic
potato
tomato
brown rice

2 1/4 Hours
fig, fresh
pear, fresh
pineapple
strawberry
asparagus
carrot
cauliflower
lettuce: cos, loose leaf, iceberg

2 1/2 Hours
blackberry
date
fig, dried
gooseberry
peach, fresh
almond
dandelion
greens
leek
mushroom
okra
lima
bean
white rice
basmati rice

Note: Foods beyond this time should not
be eaten 3 hours prior to bedtime.

2 3/4 Hours
apple, fresh
apricot, fresh
currant
peach, dried
plum
watermelon
chestnut
coconut meat, fresh
pecan
pignolia
beet
summer squash
wheat bran

3 Hours

lime
prune, dried
filbert nut
walnut
broccoli
cabbage
Swiss chard
sweet corn
endive (escarole)
kohlrabi
rhubarb
spinach
winter squash
white bean
lentil
soybean
wheat germ

3 1/4 Hours
cranberry
cantaloupe
casaba melon
honeydew melon
olive oil
pomegranate
cashew nut
coconut meat, dried
celery
cucumber
onion
sweet green pepper
pumpkin
radish
rutabaga
sweet potato
turnip greens
watercress
snap bean
peas, fresh
peanut
millet

3 1/2 Hours
safflower oil
sesame seed oil
eggplant
mustard
greens peas, dried
soybean oil
rye

3 3/4 Hours
persimmon
quince
red cabbage
barley
wheat

4 Hours
Brussels sprouts
horseradish
turnip

Answer 6

Well to fully digest food it actually takes a day to go through your entire system.

Answer 7

That depends... It takes gum to digest over 7 years... and a donut takes 3 days....

Answer 8

about seven hours. some foods take longer than other foods. steak takes a long time. if you swallow gum it takes 7 years to digest.

Answer 9

Funniest ones are the stupid ones:
"Takes gum 7 years." Old wives' tale, but they tell it like it's a verifiable FACT.

Hell-OOO!! Gum does not "digest" -- it simply passes through your system. You poop it out THE NEXT DAY or so. NOTHING stays in your system for 7 years unless it's stapled in!

Answer 10

I think 2 or 3 hours