how come food gets utterly obliterated by stomach acid, yet stuff such as bacteria and parasites that cause food poisoning doesn’t?
In: Biology
Well “utterly obliterated” is not what happens. Eat some corn kernels without chewing them really thoroughly to confirm. Food is broken up the minimum amount needed to extract the nutrients.
It isnt just bateria or fungi that can make you sick, its the stuff they make that can make you sick. As the are eating the food, they are also excreting waste products. Those products make us sick.
There are molds that produce aflatoxin. The aflatoxins are very bad for us.
Most do, but only a very small number of bacteria need to make it to the intestines to start multiplying again and produce ill effects.
Actually the impressive part is probably how many bacteria your stomach acid *does* blitz every day and how rarely pathogenic bacteria do make it through!
Also some food poisoning (such as from rice) isn’t caused by bacteria, but by toxins which the bacteria have already produced, and which don’t get destroyed in the stomach.
Along with some bacteria being more adapter to acidic conditions, the stomach also becomes less acidic as it fills with food. Your stomach’s contents can get as high as pH 6 after a meal. This makes it much easier for bacteria to survive and make it further into the GI tract.
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