Pretty much the title.
If the stomach acid is strong enough to dissolve food, why can’t it kill dangerous germs that cause all sorts of different diseases?
In: Biology
People have touched on almost everything, but it effectively boils down to a few factors;
– the bacteria type
– does the bacteria produce a toxin that *isn’t* broken down by stomach acid?
– how *much* bacteria are you getting in the bolus of food? One of the things I hadn’t seen addressed here is that you can get sick if the number of colony forming units (CFUs) outnumber the amount of acid that gets them. If you wanted to raid a castle that had a moat around it, and you had an unlimited number of soldiers, and you were a psychopath…well, just continue throwing soldiers at the castle until the moat fills up with dead people, and then climb over it. Sure, lots of bacteria will die in that acid bath…but some might make it through the gates on the dissolving bodies of their comrades and make a nice home in your guts.
Latest Answers