Does digestion work the same inside our bodies in space? Each time I see an astronaut about to eat in space and watch their food floating around I wonder if it still moves through the body the same as it does under the gravity conditions on earth. Is there no gravity impact on that process? I know pressure has a direct relationship with gravity but how does that influence impact our bodies internally?
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Food does not just rattle its way through our insides under power of gravity like a cartoon. It is in fact squeezed through the digestive system through a series of muscle contractions called “peristalsis”. Think about it like trying to squeeze mush through a flexible hose, you would squeeze behind a mass and push it down the hose. Our digestive system is made up of muscular tubes that do basically the same process. That process works in space as well.
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