If our stomach acids are some of the strongest acids, how do stomach bugs and tapeworms and germs not get digested in it? How is it that only things like insulin get digested?
In: Biology
Just as your stomach doesn’t digest itself, a tapeworm egg or other bug may have a protective coating of some kind that allows it to survive its time in the stomach until it makes it to your intestine.
It can’t survive indefinitely in your stomach, but if it is only there for a short time, it will make it through.
Other bugs are totally happy in your stomach. Your stomach is actually full of bacteria (generally ‘good’ bacteria). So there are some that are just able to produce lots of substances that help it survive in the acidic environment.
Life, uh, finds a way.
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