2006-07-02 05:54:53 · 14 answers · asked by Anonymous in Science & Mathematics ➔ Biology
It gives plenty of surface area for the body to absorb nutrients from the food we eat, before it leaves the body. It is an attempt to get the most out of what we eat... Think back to the cave man days when food wasn't so easy to find.
2006-07-02 05:59:02 · answer #1 · answered by Mary S 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
If you stretched out an adult's small intestine, it would be about 22 feet long (6.7 meters) .
The small intestine breaks down the food mixture even more so your body can absorb all the vitamins, minerals, proteins, carbohydrates, and fats. Your food may spend as long as 4 hours in the small intestine and will become a very thin, watery mixture. It's time well spent because, at the end of the journey, the nutrients from your pizza, orange, and milk can pass from the intestine into the blood.
***So, to sum it up for you--it is that long to allow for proper absorption of nutrients from your food. ;)
2006-07-02 06:04:56 · answer #2 · answered by Wilde Enchantress 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
A friend of mine had diverticulitis and had to have a couple of feet of his intestines removed. He now has to have a sh@t bag which is an incision made on his side and the feces comes out of it in a bag. If we were lacking in intestines this is what would happen. The intestine is so long because it process and breaks down food. Shorter intestines cant do this . Thus extreme cases of diahera everytime you eat, or a sh@t bag.
2006-07-02 05:59:12 · answer #3 · answered by Genivieve G 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Think of the food that your are eating and how jam packed full of molecules it is. That same food, after mechanical digestion, must be broken down even further so that the GI tract can begin to seperate the nutrients from the waste. Given todays diet and manufactured foods, it makes it even more difficult for the intestine to do its job.
2006-07-02 07:42:59 · answer #4 · answered by Emerson 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
we have about 6to 7 metre long of small intestine,and about five feet long large intestine.most of the digestion takes place in small itestine.
science can answer,HOW ?and not WHY?
the only answer is because GOD has created this machine.
2006-07-02 06:04:23 · answer #5 · answered by arvind d 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Because the human body has evolved or adapted to have enough intestine to digest the food. it needs enough room to digest and absorb the nutrients, it is longer than carnivores like dogs or lions probably because the human diet mainly consist of vegetables and legumes that takes longer to digest than flesh and meat.
2006-07-08 17:02:01 · answer #6 · answered by tetraedronico 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The small intestine is the part that absorbs all nutrients.
The longer it is, the bigger the absorbing surface becomes and thus absorption is more effective
2006-07-02 06:01:22 · answer #7 · answered by bellerophon 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
its a small intestine because it is narrower than the large intestine,also it is long because nutrients are still being absorbed in it.
2006-07-02 06:01:09 · answer #8 · answered by dumplingmuffin 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Could be anytime. Full labor is usually 4cm and 100% effaced. You can go anytime now. Feel contractions every couple of minutes, don't hesitate to go to the hospital. Good luck!! :)
2016-03-27 01:16:32 · answer #9 · answered by ? 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
are you dim or plain stupid we have it coz we need it so that our body can absorb all useful substances from the food and not waste it. Even an idiot knows that. No offense
2006-07-02 07:02:18 · answer #10 · answered by Shahbaaz Ali K 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋