Fun Digestive Facts a to z

Interesting things that aren’t Bowel Diseases

Digestive Facts for

each letter of the alphabet.  

a) Adult humans produce about 25 ounces of saliva per 24 hours. 

b) Your tummy muscles are in several layers and very strong. 

c)  We eat 300,000 to half a million pounds of food in our lives. 

d) The liver which takes care of over five hundred functions in the body is also the biggest organ. 

e) Whereas the esophagus is a couple feet long, the small intestine is over 20 feet long. 

f) The large intestine is twice as wide as the small intestine and a one quarter the length. 

g) Where do the byproducts go after being broken down?  They go to the circulatory system where the byproduct of digestion is distributed throughout the body. 

h) Cooking kills many enzymes that help break down food.  The digestive tract then must produce its own.  This lends credence to the raw food diet  

i) The liver is responsible for keeping the blood clean.  

j) Most of the action occurs in the small intestine. 

k) As people age, they produce much less of the enzymes and acids needed to digest food. 

l) Most people fart over 10 times a day. 

m) Hydrogen sulfide compounds given off by anaerobic bacteria in the  intestines are what cause farts to smell bad. 

n) The technical word for farted is eructed. 

o) Foods like beans cannot be digested all the way because of complex carbohydrates. 

p) Carbohydrates that cannot be digested also produce gaseous outcomes. 

q) Plant cell walls are made of cellulose which is more difficult to digest.  vegetarians are said to eruct more. 

s) Gastrointestinal tracts also produce methane which is odorless. 

t) it is possible due to the presence of methane to light a fart on fire. 

u) Vegetarians fart quieter. 

v) Hemorrhoids can make farts louder. 

w) Newborn baby farts have no odor. 

x) Different sugars in food can cause gas. 

y) The small intestine comes before the large intestine. 

z) You hear noises from your stomach when you are hungry.  When the  nervous system needs energy it  stimulates the stomach to produce the juices which are very acidic.  The muscles start to do their thing.  The stomach has no food so its a liquid in an empty space that produces the noise.


Introduction to Bowel DiseasesFun Digestive Facts a to z