How long does it take for your food to digest completely....from stomach to the toilet?

Question

I have an ongoing battle with my husband about this. He says ATLEAST a full day if not more. I say a couple hours.

Answer 1

Your argument stems from the fact that you probably don't have the same definition of digestion. The toilet is the waste process. Absorbtion and digestion take place higher up. Speed is affected by your own hormones, previous bowel movements, and type of food. Anyway...listed below is the average amount of time it takes per part of digestion.
Hope you get peace at home on this issue.

How Is Food Digested?

Digestion involves the mixing of food, its movement through the digestive tract, and chemical breakdown of the large molecules of food into smaller molecules. Digestion begins in the mouth, when we chew and swallow, and is completed in the small intestine. The chemical process varies somewhat for different kinds of food.

Movement of Food Through the System


• Mouth: Seconds
• Esophagus: Seconds
• Stomach: Up to 3 ½ hours
• Small Intestine: Minutes
• Large Intestine: Hours

The large, hollow organs of the digestive system contain muscle that enables their walls to move. The movement of organ walls can propel food and liquid and also can mix the contents within each organ. Typical movement of the esophagus, stomach, and intestine is called peristalsis. The action of peristalsis looks like an ocean wave moving through the muscle. The muscle of the organ produces a narrowing and then propels the narrowed portion slowly down the length of the organ. These waves of narrowing push the food and fluid in front of them through each hollow organ.

The first major muscle movement occurs when food or liquid is swallowed. Although we are able to start swallowing by choice, once the swallow begins, it becomes involuntary and proceeds under the control of the nerves.

The esophagus is the organ into which the swallowed food is pushed. It connects the throat above with the stomach below. At the junction of the esophagus and stomach, there is a ringlike valve closing the passage between the two organs. However, as the food approaches the closed ring, the surrounding muscles relax and allow the food to pass.

The food then enters the stomach, which has three mechanical tasks to do. First, the stomach must store the swallowed food and liquid. This requires the muscle of the upper part of the stomach to relax and accept large volumes of swallowed material. The second job is to mix up the food, liquid, and digestive juice produced by the stomach. The lower part of the stomach mixes these materials by its muscle action. The third task of the stomach is to empty its contents slowly into the small intestine.

Several factors affect emptying of the stomach, including the nature of the food (mainly its fat and protein content) and the degree of muscle action of the emptying stomach and the next organ to receive the stomach contents (the small intestine). As the food is digested in the small intestine and dissolved into the juices from the pancreas, liver, and intestine, the contents of the intestine are mixed and pushed forward to allow further digestion.

Finally, all of the digested nutrients are absorbed through the intestinal walls. The waste products of this process include undigested parts of the food, known as fiber, and older cells that have been shed from the mucosa. These materials are propelled into the colon, where they remain, usually for a day or two, until the feces are expelled by a bowel movement.

Answer 2

It depends on your own digestive system, but it is at least a day, your husband is right. But food poisoning can start to effect you after just a few hours, that can make food pass right through you.

Answer 3

Actually...
It is supposed to be about 24 hours.
However, because of the things that we Americans put into our bodies that we call food, many times, it takes up to 7 days to fully digest.

Answer 4

Digestion time varies between persons and between adult men and women. when you devour, it takes about six to eight hours for nutrition to flow by your abdomen and small gut. nutrition then enters your large gut (colon) for more desirable digestion, absorption of water and, ultimately, eliminating of undigested nutrition. contained in the Eighties, Mayo health midsection researchers measured digestion time in 21 healthful human beings. entire transit time, from eating to eliminating in stool, averaged fifty 3 hours (although that figure is a touch overstated, because the markers utilized by technique of the researchers handed extra slowly by the tummy than actually nutrition). the overall transit time by in basic terms the large gut (colon) became 40 hours, with significant large difference between adult men and women: 33 hours for adult men, 40 seven hours for women folk. 2 British medical doctors studied digestion time in toddlers. They fed 35 toddlers juice containing a pink marker and requested the toddlers s moms to demonstrate screen at the same time as the stool first became pink. The advise time of transit from mouth to anus for the crew became 33 hours (which means 0.5 the toddlers had digestion cases slower than this and 0.5 had digestion cases more desirable than this).

Answer 5

Normally.. about 12 hours

Answer 6

i remember reading from a book that it was about 10 hours..

Answer 7

last i checked, about 13 years