Sarah Fielding is a freelance writer covering a range of topics with a focus on mental health and women's issues. She is also the co-founder of Empire Coven, a space for highlighting trailblazing women across New York. How long does food stay in my stomach? How long is it before a meal reaches the large intestine? The answer to such commonly-asked questions is not necessarily simple. First, there is considerable normal variability among healthy people and animals in transit times through different sections of the gatrointestinal tract. Second, the time required for material to move through the digestive tube is significantly affected by the composition of the meal. Finally, transit time is influenced by such factors as psychological stress and even gender and reproductive status. Several techniques have been used to measure transit times in humans and animals. Not surprisingly, differing estimates have been reported depending on the technique used and the population of subjects being evaluated. Some of the techniques used include:
Studies of gastrointestinal transit have clearly demonstrated two related phenomena important to understanding this process:
In other words, a meal is typically a mixture of chemically and physically diverse materials, and some substances in this mixture show accelerated transit while others are retarded in their flow downstream. An example of how ingested substances spread out in the digestive tube rather than travel synchronously is shown in the figure below. These data were obtained from a human volunteer that ingested a meal containing 111Indium-labeled pellets, then measuring the location of the radioactive signal over time by scintigraphy. It is clear that parts of the meal are entering the colon at the same time that other parts are still in the stomach. The discussion above should help to explain why it is difficult to state with any precision how long ingesta remains in the stomach, small intestine and large intestine. Nonetheless, there have been many studies on GI transit, and the table below presents rough estimates for transit times in healthy humans following ingestion of a standard meal (i.e. solid, mixed foods). 50% of stomach contents emptied2.5 to 3 hoursTotal emptying of the stomach4 to 5 hours50% emptying of the small intestine2.5 to 3 hoursTransit through the colon30 to 40 hoursRemember that these are estimates of average transit times, and there is a great deal of variability among individuals and within the same person at different times and after different meals. References
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