I’ve always wondered this. I know it’s something to do with cellulose in the corn but wouldn’t the hydrochloric acids in the stomach be so acidic that it breaks down everything?
In: Biology
IIRC the acid itself doesn’t actually have a big part to play in digesting the food. It’s the enzymes that exist in your GI tract that do the digestion of the food. It’s why some people are lactose intolerant and some people aren’t. The human body lacks the required enzymes to digest cellulose and so the outer shell of the corn passes through unprocessed. It’s why cooking veggies and grains is a lot more productive nutrition-wise compared to eating em raw.
You’re right, it has to do with the cellulose. Acids *will* break down cellulose, but it takes a long time. Cellulose is made of a lot of long strands that are packed very tightly together, and the parts of the strands that the acid would attack are shielded in the interior of the packing. Ruminants like cows have gut bacteria to break it down, but we do not.
And the why of it is, well, that’s why cellulose evolved. Not to be tough to digest, but just to be tough in general. It makes up the exterior of plants to protect them from the elements and support their structure. It’s why we use cellulose, in the forms of plant matter like wood and cotton. It’s just a really strong, resistant molecule that can take a lot of damage.
The pureeing happens in the mouth, not the stomach. It’s what our teeth are for. That chewing action turns your food into a paste so that it’s easier for the acids and enzymes in the rest of the digestive tract to get at all of the molecules in it. When something isn’t fully masticated, such as if you swallow it before completely chewing it, those enzymes don’t get at everything before it goes down to the next step of the digestive process. The result: Corn in your poop.
Cellulose needs bacterial fermentation to be digested. Acid doesn’t do much for long chains of carbohydrates because it can’t really react with anything. Animals that digest cellulose (ruminants especially) first break it down mechanically (by chewing and re-chewing) and then using either bacterial fermentation in one of series of stomachs or the gut to break it down. In general, digestion happens throughout your digestive tract – starches need neutral pH found in mouth to start breaking down, and long strings of molecules like complex carbs, proteins and fats don’t break down fully until they are inside your bowels assisted by a variety of chemicals and gut flora. Many nutrients cannot be digested at all without gut flora.
Hope this will help [Experimenting With Stomach Acid | How strong is it?](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2KptKfFC5Jk)
Your stomach *doesn’t* purée things by acid, and it’s not really that acidic (otherwise it could burn your esophagus and small intestine).
A lot of digestion is done by enzymes, and we don’t have enzymes for the hulls of seeds.
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