We, Filipinos are known for eating much compared to an average Asian. In fact, according to System Health, an average Filipino consumes thrice a typical Asian can do. And most of the food they intake is carbohydrate, (specially rice) which is a glucose rich food. Which is also one of the reasons why elder Filipino get diagnosed with Diabetes as they get older. And these data raised my curiosity and realized that how come some people can eat more than 1 plate in just one sitting. Then one day we discussed about the physiology of the one of the most complicated body systems but also the one of the most fascinating system in the body, the Digestive System.
As the lesson goes by, answer for my questions starts to appear one by one and having me a clearer understanding and clearer way of thinking towards this spectacular body system. Until one of my classmates asked my professor a similar question related to my concern, ‘Mukbang is a new trend in young viral teenager vloggers nowadays, I wonder how come they can finish a plenty of food in just one sitting?’. This question to my professor raised again my curiosity on its highest peak, I’m pretty confused at the same time excited because after all, the answers to my question is here. Then this is what I realized after a short discussion, some people can digest more food compared to others because of three factors; first, how grind the food is after you chew it with your mouth.
The first time I heard this made me ask myself, ‘wait, what? Is mouth a part of the digestive process? I thought digestion starts within the stomach. Am I stupid this whole time?”. Actually, I don’t believe it at first but as the lesson goes by, it starts to make sense. Some people just swallow their food after some few chewing, making the stomach had a hard time breaking down the food because the stomach is currently occupied resulting into slow digestive process.
Second factor is the person itself had high metabolisms; he digests food faster. And last is what food you eat. Vegetarians take up a very long time to digest their food, due to the components of food they eat. Cellulose, a major component of plant’s cell wall is not that easy to digest as humans because we lack appropriate enzymes to breakdown the bonds that hold to this kind of polymer. And that is how fascinating and wonderful the world of digestion is.
