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Comment by hutzlibu | Hacker News Reader

"Doesn't this suggest that if you want to eat a lot of food but don't want to absorb too much of it (i.e., are concerned about weight gain), you should chew less?"

Erm, did you never noticed how some food like corn comes out on the toilet pretty much unchanged(and therefore not digested) if you ate in a hurry before?

So obviously yes, even without complex chemical analysis your theory seems to be right.

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What comes out is the corn shell, which looks like corn unless you poke at it.

Source: I poked at it.

Nice! Meant genuinely -- I thought this was very much in the "intellectual curiosity" spirit that this site purports to be interested in.

Move fast and poke shit?

This needs it's own separate scientific investigation.

Agreed - definitely https://www.improbable.com/ig-about/ science material and possible future winner in the making right there.

Ahhh, I wasn't ready for that citation.

Love it! You solved one of the things I’ve always had a hunch but never brave enough to prove myself.

For science, of course.

It also looks like corn until you taste it.

Citation needed...

What comes out is the corn shell, which looks like corn unless you poke at it

I've heard this, but never experienced it myself. No corn shell in my stool. I've also heard people say hot sauce is just as hot coming out as going in. I've also never experienced that (whew!). I do struggle with my weight, so maybe that's why? My gut microbes are extracting every bit of all the food I eat?

As far as I know, humans simply lack the ability to digest cellulos (corn kernel shells) and capsaicin (spicy molecule). I’m surprised you never see corn shells in your stool, but I can imagine people have varying degrees of sensitivity to capsaicin, so some might feel it spicy coming out while others don’t even though the capsaicin is there.

Well, apparently if you chew corn thoroughly you'll break down the cellulose fibers enough where you can digest the corn kernel shells. I don't pay attention to how I chew food and hadn't noticed chewing more than anyone else. Hmmm, strange! You would think being an older person and having been born, raised and still living in the corn belt and therefore eating LOTS of corn I would have seen the kernel shells sometime! Who knows? Maybe I'm a mutant who can digest cellulose better than most! :)

P.S. - In all seriousness maybe that's why I've been able to be a vegetarian for 30 years without suffering from the ill effects people typically suffer, such as excessive gas. Maybe I really do digest cellulose better than most.

> I've also heard people say hot sauce is just as hot coming out as going in.

Depends on how much you eat, leastwise based on my own experience.

There was a point in my distant youth where I thought it was amusing to put as much spicy stuff on a meal as I could manage. Red pepper flakes, cayenne powder, tabasco, etc. It absolutely did burn going out--but only for about 5 minutes. I apparently ate enough to--err--make things go numb.

It was a very weird sensation and something I never did again given how unpleasant the whole experience was.

I'd imagine the people who--for whatever insane reason--participate in ghost pepper challenges experience something very similar if they can keep them down long enough to partake of the journey to completion.

yes, but does it actually taste like corn?

Spoken like a true hacker.

"Sweet corn is digested, otherwise there would be little point in eating it. The inside of each kernel is almost pure starch and is digested very readily." source: https://www.sciencefocus.com/science/why-is-sweet-corn-not-d...

This is less to do with chewing and more about how most people don't have gut microbes that can handle the fiber or produce necessary quantities of phytases to break it down.

Do you have references I can read up on that? Not saying you are wrong but it is something I would like know more about.

I'm just curious here, you're asking for a reference on basic human biology. Have you ever noticed that people don't eat grass, bark, and other sources of fiber in quantity? Yes, we can eat it. But humans don't digest it. This has been part of human culture since before we had agriculture.

I mean there is niche stuff like lactose tolerance, which only is present in some populations. That's a little different. I wasn't even aware of it until I moved out of the place I grew up.

While growing up in the US, I thought lactose intolerance was the niche.

The OP says "most people don't have such gut microbes" implying that some people do - that's what I was asking about.

I studied plenty of biology 25 years ago. Gut flora were not discuss in great detail back then. It's a relatively new focus of biology and I don't think it comes under "basic" human biology.

If you can find me people that can digest cellulose in quantity, that's pretty damn amazing.

Cattle and other animals are able to do so because they have multiple stomachs. Apparently bacteria in some of the stomachs help with this process.

Did you miss my first sentence?

The OP says "most people don't have such gut microbes" implying that some people do - that's what I was asking about.

If I understand correctly your original comment must be highly disingenuous. You're asking for sources you know don't exist.

Look up dietary fiber. It is, by definition, indigestible carbohydrates.

What about soluble fiber?

"most people don't have gut microbes that can handle the fiber or produce necessary quantities of phytases to break it down".

Doesn't this suggest that "some" people do have such microbes? Otherwise the word "most" should have been omitted. Maybe that is where my confusion arises from.

Corn husks are inedible, so that shouldn't be surprising. A great deal of plant matter, in particular, is fibre or char or similar that will simply pass through.

If you want to reduce absorption, particularly of fat, there's some evidence increasing dietary fibre a bit will help with that.

But in general, calories in = calories in.

You accidental tautology belies the point that the amount of calories your body burns is variable, depending in part on the number of calories your body takes in.

burns, or stores

I think it makes the point that your body doesn't absorb all the calories you swallow. Fiber has energy value when burned in a fireplace, but not when eaten by a human.

Interesting tidbit. I'm take an online course in Mexican cooking. The first unit is making tortillas. The chef covered the traditional way. You take dried corn, cut from the cob, and soak it in lime (pickling lime) water overnight. Then you grind it. I wondered how Mexicans use corn as a staple when it doesn't digest well. Question answered.

The lime helps the corn loosen its 'husk' as well... Nixtamalization also involves washing and husking the corn before grinding. The husk is the part that isn't digestible. More: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nixtamalization

I don't even want to imagine 75 Nathan's hot dogs.

Read Omnivore’s Dilemma. Corn is a human invention.

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