Admit it. You’ve all looked at corn in poop and wondered it yourself. Why does corn come out whole in our poop? Isn’t the body supposed to digest its food and not send it through unprocessed? Well the explanation is a fascinating, entertaining and a little disturbing and a tad bit disgusting.
Well, I know it’s something that I’ve seen myself, and I can guarantee that anyone else who eats corn has seen as well. The day after a nice and satisfying meal you head off to the outhouse for a brief visit. You do your business and stare in wonder at the yellow lumps of corn disbursed throughout your droppings. That’s right, there are fully formed corn in poop. How could this be? You chewed your food and you know the rest of your food was digested. Plus it surely didn’t feel like you were pushing out little hard lumps of corn. But there’s a very good reason for it. You weren’t pushing out little hard lumps and your body did exactly what it was supposed to do.
Corn is a rather delicious and versatile vegetable. It has a multitude of uses. Popcorn can be eaten or used as decorations, it can be turned into a breakfast cereal and made into a variety of different dishes. But why does it come out whole?
All of the goodness of corn is inside the corn kernel. The outer shell of corn is made of cellulose. Cellulose is hard, rubbery and difficult for the body to digest. It’s even difficult to break down with our teeth. However, when the shell is softened up it allows us access to the inside of the corn, which is full of nutrients and easy to digest. What is left is an empty vessel. A shell of sorts.
So what you are in fact seeing is not whole corn in poop, but little poop filled bags of corn shell in your poop. See, I told you it was a little disgusting.
