TIME REQUIRED FOR DIGESTION
TIME REQUIRED FOR DIGESTION.
The length of time required for
stomach digestion varies with different food substances. The following
table shows the time necessary for the stomach digestion of some of the
more commonly used foods:–
min
Rice 1 00
Sago 1 45
Tapioca 2 00
Barley 2 00
Beans, pod, boiled 2 30
Bread, wheaten 3 30
Bread, corn 3 15
Apples, sour and raw 2 00
Apples, sweet and raw 1 30
Parsnips, boiled 2 30
Beets, boiled 3 45
Potatoes, Irish, boiled 3 30
Potatoes, Irish, baked 2 30
Cabbage, raw 2 30
Cabbage, boiled 4 30
Milk, boiled 2 00
Milk, raw 2 15
Eggs, hard boiled 3 30
Eggs, soft boiled 3 00
Eggs, fried 3 30
Eggs, raw 2 00
Eggs, whipped 1 30
Salmon, salted, boiled 4 00
Oysters, raw 2 55
Oysters, stewed 3 30
Beef, lean, rare roasted 3 00
Beefsteak, boiled 3 00
Beef, lean, fried 4 00
Beef, salted, boiled 4 15
Pork, roasted 5 15
Pork, salted, fried 4 15
Mutton, roasted 3 15
Mutton, broiled 3 00
Veal, broiled 4 00
Veal, fried 4 30
Fowls, boiled 4 00
Duck, roasted 4 30
Butter, melted 3 30
Cheese 3 30
Soup, marrowbone 4 15
Soup, bean 3 00
Soup, mutton 3 30
Chicken, boiled 3 00
The time required for the digestion of food also depends upon the
condition under which the food is eaten. Healthy stomach digestion
requires at least five hours for its completion, and the stomach should
have an hour for rest before another meal. If fresh food is taken before
that which preceded it is digested, the portion of food remaining in the
stomach is likely to undergo fermentation, thus rendering the whole mass
of food unfit for the nutrition of the body, besides fostering various
disturbances of digestion. It has been shown by recent observations that
the length of time required for food to pass through the entire
digestive process to which it is subjected in the mouth, stomach, and
small intestines, is from twelve to fourteen hours.