You can't kill corn

[Briar Rose]

I had a disgusting question one day after changing my friend's little girl's diaper concerning corn and its *ahem* undigestability. Since the board wasn't working too well for me, I found the answer myself. Here it is:

"How come when you eat corn, no matter how much you chew it, you poop it out in whole kernals?
(Question submitted by Timzx)
Corn poop is one of the greatest mysteries in life. I grew up pondering the same question. This is what I think is happening:
When we chew corn, the outer coating slips off the inner kernal. This outer yellow coating is almost entirely cellulose, and is indigestible. It passes through the gut untouched, and emerges looking like a whole kernal, although it is mostly just the outer skin. The inside of the kernal is starchy and digestible, and that is the part that we succeed in chewing up. "


The site had WAY more information than I wanted, and many gross questions were answered. If you're curious, here it is:
http://www.heptune.com/poop.html

[Humble Master]

The Answer is 42 posted that same question a few months ago on the Board (the question is here).

[Briar Rose]

I'm especially glad I didn't ask it then!

[Humble Master]

I recall being quite intrigued when the question was posted, hence I ended up looking up the information in the answer (qho hasn't wondered about that at some point?).

[Wisteria]

Heh. My Ecology professor told us that we could do an experiment on the difference between animal matter and plant matter and how our bodies are better equipped to get energy from animal matter. He told us to all go home and eat a hamburger and some corn and see which one ended up having more energy taken from it, ie, is less recognizable when you're done with it, as it were. I think he was serious.