7 Years to Digest!
Posted by drdavescience on December 28, 2007
Dear Dr. Dave,
My daughter came home from school and said that her science teacher told her it took seven years for your stomach to digest a maraschino cherry. Do you know the answer?
Thanks,
Nancy
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Dear Nancy,
Thank you for your question. I heard that gum took 7 years to digest, but I have never heard it in regards to maraschino cherries. Let’s take a closer look to find the truth.
Maraschino cherries are normal cherries soaked in brine (salt water) and then it is packaged in sugary syrup.
Cherries, like most fruits, are easily digested. Maraschino cherries do not have seeds, so there is nothing other than the stem that would pose a challenge to digestion.
In regards to salt and sugar, everyone needs a certain amount of both to function properly. For example, our nerves require a certain salt balance to conduct signals from our brain. Excess salt is filtered out through your kidneys. Sugary syrups are in many of the foods we eat (we usually know it as high fructose corn syrup) and we use sugars to generate energy.
Those are the basic ingredients and it does not seem like there is anything that would take “7 years to digest.”
I think these “7 years to digest” stories are myths. They are designed to scare kids away from eating too many things that are not good for them.
The truth is, even if you accidentally ate something that you could never digest (like a penny), your digestive system would pass it out. Please do not try this. The kids and adults who have done this had to go to the emergency room and were given medicine that made it VERY uncomfortable to go to the bathroom!
The thing to understand is that the digestive system is designed to absorb nutrients and efficiently remove waste.
I hope this helps. Happy 2008!
Sincerely,
Dr. Dave
