What are the constituent elements that make up a bowel movement and why is our body unable to use so much of the food that we put into it?

Question

Seems like a fairly inefficient system tbqh – is it because we’re eating the wrong stuff? or is it because living organisms create a fixed amount of waste no matter what? Poop is weird. I’d like to understand it better.

In: Biology

Answer 1

A campfire consumes wood, releasing energy and leaving behind ashes and smoke. Our digestive system is much the same. Our food is broken down, releasing the energy we need to live, leaving behind poo we excrete and co2, which we release in our breath.

It’s all about gaining energy by breaking big molecules into small molecules. Then we get rid of the small molecules.