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Digestion time depends on several factors, including the food you ate, your age and more. Here's what to expect after you eat.
Many factors affect the timeframe, but doctors explain what you need to know.
The human gastrointestinal tract is around 9 metres (30 feet) long. Food digestion physiology varies between individuals and upon other factors such as the characteristics of the food and size of the meal, and the process of digestion normally takes between 24 and 72 hours. [20]
The human digestive system consists of the gastrointestinal tract plus the accessory organs of digestion (the tongue, salivary glands, pancreas, liver, and gallbladder). Digestion involves the breakdown of food into smaller and smaller components, until they can be absorbed and assimilated into the body.
The contents of the stomach are completely emptied into the duodenum within two to four hours after the meal is eaten. Different types of food take different amounts of time to process. Foods heavy in carbohydrates empty fastest, followed by high-protein foods. Meals with a high triglyceride content remain in the stomach the longest.
Ingested food stimulates gastric activity in two ways: by stretching the stomach and by gastric contents stimulating receptors in the stomach. [2] Stretch activates two reflexes: a short reflex mediated through the myenteric nerve plexus, and a long reflex mediated through the vagus nerves and brainstem.
As much as we always emphasize eating tons of fiber, eating high-fiber foods when you have GI upset or an irritated gut can be hard on your digestive system. These foods include raw vegetables ...
[medical citation needed] The rate of digestion is also dependent of the material being digested, as food composition from the same meal may leave the stomach at different rates. [32] Total emptying of the stomach takes around 4–5 hours, and transit through the colon takes 30 to 50 hours.