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Is digestion effected by low gravity?
I'm curious how/if the digestion process is effected by very low gravity such as space.
Doesn't gravity play some part in the digestion process? Is it slowed down at all?
3 Answers
- PaulaLv 78 years agoFavorite Answer
Well, given that some people have spent more than 100 days in space -- it would seem that digestion is not affected by zero gravity.
These people spent 185vdays in space :
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soyuz_35
When we eat, food does not just "fall down into our stomach. The esophagus propels the food down :
"During swallowing, food passes from the mouth through the pharynx into the esophagus and travels via peristalsis to the stomach."
That's from this article :
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Esophagus
And once in the stomach, food can not pass back up, because all movement in the digestive tract is one way, controlled by peristalsis (muscular contractions of the walls of the entestines and esophagus.
- Erica sLv 78 years ago
The movement of food through your body is by a process called peristalsis. It is a series of muscular contractions which pushes the food through the gut. It doesn't appear to be affected by microgravity.
- John WLv 78 years ago
So long as your vagal nerve still functions, your digestion is unaffected by micro-gravity.