Yahoo Answers is shutting down on May 4th, 2021 (Eastern Time) and beginning April 20th, 2021 (Eastern Time) the Yahoo Answers website will be in read-only mode. There will be no changes to other Yahoo properties or services, or your Yahoo account. You can find more information about the Yahoo Answers shutdown and how to download your data on this help page.

?
Lv 5

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

Relevance
  • Paula
    Lv 7
    8 years ago
    Favorite 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.

  • 8 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 W
    Lv 7
    8 years ago

    So long as your vagal nerve still functions, your digestion is unaffected by micro-gravity.

Still have questions? Get your answers by asking now.