How fast can food pass through the body?

Question

I have read somewhere that it is normal to defecate about once a day. This leads me to think that it takes about 24h for food to pass through the body under normal circumstances.

Now lets say you eat some bad sushi that triggers “the runs” within an hour.
When you then defecate, is it the actual sushi that comes out or is it just the food you ate before the sushi?

Also, how fast could food theoretically go from mouth to anus?

In: 935

Answer 1

I have IBS, which can cause severe, instant, diarrhea.

I have personally had to stop eating a salad because I was starting to get stomach cramps, and within 20 minutes, the salad had gone all the way through and out the other end. The lettuce was still green.

So, in severe cases, you can go from mouth to toilet bowl in under 20 minutes. It’s quite painful and I don’t recommend it.