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

I’d like to defend poop by noting that it’s a very good fertilizer. What we call “waste” is actually a helpful component in producing even more food. So if the system looks “inefficient,” it may only appear so on a small scale. Broaden the scope, and it’s very efficient.