The digestive system does important work for the body. Food isn’t in a form the body can readily use, so it’s the digestive system that has to break it down into parts. Through digestion, the body gets the nutrients it needs from foods and eliminates anything it doesn’t need.
This is a really basic overview of the digestive system, but obviously, there’s a whole lot more that goes into it that makes it all work. And, unfortunately, this also means that things can go wrong pretty easily.
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The Length of the Digestive System
The digestive system can vary in length from person to person but can be from about 25 to 28 feet long, with some being as long as about 30 feet in some people.
The esophagus is about 9 to 10 inches in length, the small intestine is about 23 feet long, and the large intestine is about 5 feet long, on average.
How Long It Takes for Food to Digest
The time it takes forfood to digestcan vary a bit from person to person, and between males and females. Studies have shown that the entire process takes about an average of 50 hours for healthy people, but can vary between 24 and 72 hours, based on a number of factors.
After chewing food and swallowing it, it passes through the stomach and small intestine over a period of 4 to 7 hours. The time passing through the large intestine is much longer, averaging about 40 hours. For men, the average time to digest food is shorter overall than it is for women.
Having a digestive condition that affects transit time (the time it takes for food to pass through the digestive system) can shorten or extend the time.
Why Digestion Is Important
From the Mouth to the Anus
Thedigestive systemis one long tube that runs from your mouth to your anus. There are valves and twists and turns along the way, but eventually, the food that goes into your mouth comes out of your anus.
When you chew food and swallow, these are the structures in your body that the food goes through during its journey down to the anus:
A Word From Verywell
The digestive system affects so much of the rest of the body because all body systems need nourishment to function. Diseases and conditions of the digestive tract can have far-reaching implications for the rest of the body if nutrients aren’t being absorbed properly. The digestive system is complex, and while there are some variations, for most people with healthy digestive systems, food takes about 50 hours to pass all the way through.
3 SourcesVerywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases.Short Bowel Syndrome. Reviewed July 2015.Lee YY, Erdogan A, Rao SSC.How to assess regional and whole gut transit time with wireless motility capsule.J Neurogastroenterol Motil. 2014 Apr;20(2):265-270. doi:10.5056/jnm.2014.20.2.265National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases.Your digestive system and how it works. Reviewed December 2017.
3 Sources
Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases.Short Bowel Syndrome. Reviewed July 2015.Lee YY, Erdogan A, Rao SSC.How to assess regional and whole gut transit time with wireless motility capsule.J Neurogastroenterol Motil. 2014 Apr;20(2):265-270. doi:10.5056/jnm.2014.20.2.265National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases.Your digestive system and how it works. Reviewed December 2017.
Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.
National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases.Short Bowel Syndrome. Reviewed July 2015.Lee YY, Erdogan A, Rao SSC.How to assess regional and whole gut transit time with wireless motility capsule.J Neurogastroenterol Motil. 2014 Apr;20(2):265-270. doi:10.5056/jnm.2014.20.2.265National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases.Your digestive system and how it works. Reviewed December 2017.
National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases.Short Bowel Syndrome. Reviewed July 2015.
Lee YY, Erdogan A, Rao SSC.How to assess regional and whole gut transit time with wireless motility capsule.J Neurogastroenterol Motil. 2014 Apr;20(2):265-270. doi:10.5056/jnm.2014.20.2.265
National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases.Your digestive system and how it works. Reviewed December 2017.
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