I could be wrong, but I don’t think food you eat moves along in fixed stages. So while we have ball park figures on how long a meal “stays in the stomach” it’s not like the entire meal stays there for two hours until it’s all broken down, and only **then** moves into the small intestine. I believe some of it will be moved along quicker as it’s not efficient to leave all the stuff, especially liquids, sitting there while the harder stuff gets digested. I assume small squirts of digested food are moved along continuously. But again that’s just my speculation as to why some things are absorbed so quickly.
For those who know more, is it also the case that the stomach itself has some limited absorption capabilities? Can small molecules like alcohol and glucose be absorbed in the stomach as well?
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