Why is ingesting fecal matter dangerous even though its just stuff from your body?
In: Biology
It’s not “dangerous” in most situations. It’s just not food. There’s a difference between “inedible” and “toxic.” Eating a small amount of crayon isn’t dangerous (hence the non-toxic label) but you can’t really eat crayons because they aren’t food.
*except that sometimes it is dangerous like when someone has an infection or unique gut flora
You are making the mistake of thinking that just because something is in our body, it should be safe. It isn’t.
Our bodies contain all kinds of stuff thats deadly dangerous to us. We live because we have specialized location on our body where those things need to be stored.
Fecal matter is poisonous. Full of bacteria that can and will kill us but our intestines are specially designed to handle them and prevent them from spreading through our body and killing us.
Stomach acid is similar. It can burn your tissue, even burn holes in your tissue and cause significant internal damage, but our stomachs are equipped to contain the acid (most of the time) and prevent it from mixing with tissue that isn’t protected against that acid.
Not everything natural is safe. Not everything yours is fine for you.
Feces are waste, chemicals that your body expels because they are dangerous if they build up inside. If you eat feces, you are putting back old waste while you produce new waste.
It’s like not throwing out the trash. At one point the house will be full of it and full of problems.
Also, bacteria from the intestine are specific from the intestine. In the mouth they can start infections
Clarification: I am not trying to eat my own shit. I am wondering because I’ve read about developing countries that have water supplies contaminated with fecal matter and I was wondering how dangerous it is and why its so bad.
Fuel in a car is fine in the tank as it is. But if it were combusted there like it was in the engine your car wouldnt come out looking as pretty. Same applies to your body. Your fuel is used elsewhere in your body and produces chemicals that are harmless at that part of your digestion system but would cause harm in earlier parts.
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It’s 99% bacteria according to Gut by Giulia Enders. These bacteria are opportunistic. They’re mutualities in our gut, but our stomachs aren’t equipped to keep them at bay—they can cause diseases more easily from there.
You can also think of it this way:
It’s all the stuff your body tried to use, but couldn’t/wouldn’t.
no you’re right. poop in your water, if it comes from a healthy person, is NOT any more dangerous than like, eye snot.
but poop is also a great way to travel if you’re a parasite. you live in water, someone drinks that water, and then they shit their brains out back into that water, which makes you really mobile and lets you infect a ton of people.
fecal coliform bacteria therefore act as signs that you’ve got poop in your water, which tells you that IF that someone who pooed in your water is sick, you better watch out.
tldr: good poop fine, but bad things evolved to live in poop, so bad poo gets you real sick.
You wouldn’t put stomach acid in your eyes would you? Certain parts of your body can handle certain things. Don’t eat poop and you will have a good day:)
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