Digestion in space/0g

This is one thing I've never understood.

I thought that once something was in the stomach in needed gravity to force it down into the acids to make the food digestible.

If there's a tiny bit of gravity it would be forced down. If there's no gravity, how is it forced down to the acids?

Does it come down to the human body having a small amount of its own gravity?

How does it work?

a reply to: TerryDon79

It's actually more about the muscles lining the intestinal tract than it is about gravity.

That's why horses and snakes and insects can still digest even though their tract is for the most part horizontal - muscles are doing the job.

originally posted by: swanne
a reply to: TerryDon79

It's actually more about the muscles lining the intestinal tract than it is about gravity.

That's why horses and snakes can still digest even though their tract is horizontal - muscles are doing the job.

But if there's no gravity how does it touch the lining?

I know it's a weird question, but what info I did find doesn't really explain anything, just makes me ask more questions lol.

originally posted by: TerryDon79
But if there's no gravity how does it touch the lining?

The muscle is integrated with the intestine.



Fascinating, really, how many muscles our body activates without our conscious being even aware of them.

originally posted by: TerryDon79

originally posted by: swanne
a reply to: TerryDon79

It's actually more about the muscles lining the intestinal tract than it is about gravity.

That's why horses and snakes can still digest even though their tract is horizontal - muscles are doing the job.

But if there's no gravity how does it touch the lining?

I know it's a weird question, but what info I did find doesn't really explain anything, just makes me ask more questions lol.

Because your stomach isn't an empty cavity in which anything could float.

a reply to: swanne

I've seen that before, but it doesn't really answer the question.

If the "lumps of food/sustenance" are smaller than the gap between the muscles, would it not just float in the middle? Or just bounce off from all the sides?

a reply to: TerryDon79

The stomach adapts its size to it's contents

originally posted by: TerryDon79

If the "lumps of food/sustenance" are smaller than the gap between the muscles, would it not just float in the middle? Or just bounce off from all the sides?

Not really... The stuff that reaches the intestines doesn't exactly look like what you've eaten. The stomach makes sure of that. The stomach transforms what you've eaten into a, well, mush.

This mush pretty much fills most gaps there could be between the sides of the intestines.

a reply to: TerryDon79

Asphinctersayswhat?

Whut?!

It's muscles and sphincters (same thing) that do the mule work of digestion.

a reply to: swanne

So that means that you would need to eat more in space/0g than on Earth to form enough "mush"?

Told you it was a bit of a silly question lol.

a reply to: TerryDon79

from what I understand, digestion is the breaking down of food into a liquid, then absorbs. you technically eat upside down, so I don't think lacking of gravity will change thing that much,

a reply to: Kandinsky

So it it muscles all the way through?

I found the most annoying vid I could to demonstrate the point regarding muscles and peristalsis ..

originally posted by: TerryDon79
a reply to: swanne

So that means that you would need to eat more in space/0g than on Earth to form enough "mush"?

Well, the thing is, the stomach fits the volume you eat so that there's not much air left (burping is the method by which air is expelled from the stomach). So it doesn't matter the orientation of the whole system, it'll still work because it's powered by muscles and there's not much space left for the food to bounce around.

a reply to: swanne

That makes sense.

So it is literally a whole string of muscle systems with no gaps in the system from entrance to exit?

a reply to: TerryDon79

Pretty much.

There are some gas pockets here and there, obviously (such as flatus build-up), but other than that, it's a very tight system.

a reply to: swanne

Well thanks for clearing that up.

I never realised the stomach actually changed that much (I YouTubed it lol). I think that was the info I was missing and why it made me ask more questions than I needed to.

a reply to: TerryDon79

Hehe anytime mate!

a reply to: swanne

I think next time I have a question I might just U2U you and save the embarrassment lol.

a reply to: TerryDon79

Actually I think you just asked out loud what many of us are wondering but just didn't want to ask.

ATS needs more threads like this, mate.