• Question: why cant our bodies digest things like wood, metal and plastic?

    Asked by ava and hibba!! on 28 Jan 2025.
    • Photo: Carly Bingham

      Carly Bingham answered on 28 Jan 2025:

      We don’t have the right tools for it in our bodies – it’s like trying to open a door with the wrong key. Instead, the undigestible material passes all the way through our digestive system and out the other end with everything else that our body can’t use

Comments

  • Photo: melissau

    melissau commented on :

    Our bodies are designed to digest substances which can support the way our body functions – we need carbohydrates for energy, protein to sustain our bones and muscles and fat to help the chemical reactions inside our body. Our digestive system contains enzymes which specifically work on food to break it down into these components. Wood, metal and plastic don’t contain the substances our body needs and the enzymes don’t break them down so they pass through our digestive system and out the other end (hopefully painlessly and without damaging the lining of our digestive system on their way through)