if you eat something dodgy, why do you get cramping and diarrhoea soon after consuming it, even though that food couldn’t have been digested yet? And why do the symptoms stop before your body has expelled the bad food?
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Your body “tests” what you eat long before it gets digested; otherwise it would defeat the purpose of testing. You check identification at the door, not when you’ve already let someone in. If you digested dangerous foods, the toxins would enter your bloodstream.
I’m not sure I agree you necessarily feel better before you’ve expelled it all, but the “testing” happens at the front end; once the food goes further downstream, you react to it less. It still won’t be comfortable – your gut bacteria won’t like it – but it’ll get taken care of.
Your body “tests” what you eat long before it gets digested; otherwise it would defeat the purpose of testing. You check identification at the door, not when you’ve already let someone in. If you digested dangerous foods, the toxins would enter your bloodstream.
I’m not sure I agree you necessarily feel better before you’ve expelled it all, but the “testing” happens at the front end; once the food goes further downstream, you react to it less. It still won’t be comfortable – your gut bacteria won’t like it – but it’ll get taken care of.
Food poisoning is caused by bacteria on the food getting into your body and causing a ruckus. It’s not directly caused by toxins on the food, generally.
Different bacteria cause different symptoms. Salmonella won’t affect you for at least 6 hours. E. coli doesn’t hit until a few days after you’ve eaten the bad food.
But staph infections get into you almost right away, and reproduce to the point that they’re cycling toxins into your system very quickly, hence the quick symptoms.
Food poisoning is caused by bacteria on the food getting into your body and causing a ruckus. It’s not directly caused by toxins on the food, generally.
Different bacteria cause different symptoms. Salmonella won’t affect you for at least 6 hours. E. coli doesn’t hit until a few days after you’ve eaten the bad food.
But staph infections get into you almost right away, and reproduce to the point that they’re cycling toxins into your system very quickly, hence the quick symptoms.
The last time this question was asked, someone provided a great “railroad car” analogy. Something like this:
You eat something disagreeable, but not so disagreeable that it makes you throw up.
Your body floods your intestines with water to start flushing it out so you can get rid of the disagreeable thing.
All the “railroad cars” ahead of the disagreeable thing on your track are liquified. (In normal digestion, water is being removed from the food you’ve eaten.)
The smooth muscle in your intestines “wring them out” to move those now-slushy railroad cars out of your system.
Once your railroad s clear, it can calm down and return to normal operation.
The last time this question was asked, someone provided a great “railroad car” analogy. Something like this:
You eat something disagreeable, but not so disagreeable that it makes you throw up.
Your body floods your intestines with water to start flushing it out so you can get rid of the disagreeable thing.
All the “railroad cars” ahead of the disagreeable thing on your track are liquified. (In normal digestion, water is being removed from the food you’ve eaten.)
The smooth muscle in your intestines “wring them out” to move those now-slushy railroad cars out of your system.
Once your railroad s clear, it can calm down and return to normal operation.
You can get infected in two ways:
1. Food poisoning: Bacteria proliferate in food and produce toxins -> you eat this toxin laden food -> you usually get sick within 1-6 hours of eating the food, because the food contains premade toxin AND to make you sick, the toxin doesnt have to be digested or absorbed. It makes you sick by acting locally in your digestive system, from inside its lumen. Since no new toxin is being produced, food poisoning is self limited, and symptoms may resolve before the contaminated food actually makes its way out of you.
2. Gastroenteritis: You ingest food contaminated with bacteria -> bacteria proliferate in your gut lumen -> they synthesize and release toxins. This usually has a later onset, due to the requirement for bacteria to proliferate and synthesize toxin before symptoms can occur. You may need to take antibiotics as well. These illnesses are generally longer lasting and more severe, and some can lead to severe complications (eg due to bacteria spreading into the bloodstream and causing sepsis).
You can get infected in two ways:
1. Food poisoning: Bacteria proliferate in food and produce toxins -> you eat this toxin laden food -> you usually get sick within 1-6 hours of eating the food, because the food contains premade toxin AND to make you sick, the toxin doesnt have to be digested or absorbed. It makes you sick by acting locally in your digestive system, from inside its lumen. Since no new toxin is being produced, food poisoning is self limited, and symptoms may resolve before the contaminated food actually makes its way out of you.
2. Gastroenteritis: You ingest food contaminated with bacteria -> bacteria proliferate in your gut lumen -> they synthesize and release toxins. This usually has a later onset, due to the requirement for bacteria to proliferate and synthesize toxin before symptoms can occur. You may need to take antibiotics as well. These illnesses are generally longer lasting and more severe, and some can lead to severe complications (eg due to bacteria spreading into the bloodstream and causing sepsis).
You can get infected in two ways:
1. Food poisoning: Bacteria proliferate in food and produce toxins -> you eat this toxin laden food -> you usually get sick within 1-6 hours of eating the food, because the food contains premade toxin AND to make you sick, the toxin doesnt have to be digested or absorbed. It makes you sick by acting locally in your digestive system, from inside its lumen. Since no new toxin is being produced, food poisoning is self limited, and symptoms may resolve before the contaminated food actually makes its way out of you.
2. Gastroenteritis: You ingest food contaminated with bacteria -> bacteria proliferate in your gut lumen -> they synthesize and release toxins. This usually has a later onset, due to the requirement for bacteria to proliferate and synthesize toxin before symptoms can occur. You may need to take antibiotics as well. These illnesses are generally longer lasting and more severe, and some can lead to severe complications (eg due to bacteria spreading into the bloodstream and causing sepsis).
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