Is it something I ate?

 The other night I was wakened about 1:30 with an acid reflux event (stomach acid coming up into my mouth). Yuk. I got to wondering if there was still food in my stomach, so I looked it up. Here’s more than you want to know about how long it takes the food you eat to travel through your intestinal system—from mouth to anus:

·       Stomach: 2-6 hours to empty. After food has been mixed with gastric juice and mashed up, it goes through the pyloric sphincter at the lower end of the stomach and slowly empties into the small intestine.  

·       Small intestine: 5-12 hours to empty. The small intestine is where most digestion and absorption occurs. Whatever undigested food remains in the small intestine goes through a valve to the large intestine.

·       Large intestine: Average 36 hours. Undigested food mixes with bacteria that ferment the food and produce important chemicals such as vitamin K. The time undigested food remains in the colon ranges from 4-72 hours.  After that, you know where it goes.

·       Total time: For a healthy adult, the transit time from mouth to anus is 24-72 hours.

So anyway, by 1:30 in the morning my stomach should have been empty. A good thing, I think.

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