Can humans digest wood??

Question

I made a smoothie n a piece of a wooden spooon broke off in the blender n got mixed in wit the smoothie... i drank it ne wayz... j just wanna make sure im not gonna die... or bleed internally =/

Answer 1

No, we lack the digestive enzymes to break down cellulose fiber. Maybe someday when someone creates  a human - termite hi bred.

Answer 2

a small piece of wood maybe because it could be softened by the stomachs natural acid, but not a whole wooden block or something big. But i think it would just come right back out the way it went in.

Answer 3

No.

No animal can.

Some animals have bacteria in their gut who will digest wood, but people don't have them.

Answer 4

We don't have the enzymes like a termite to digest wood.

Answer 5

Well, of the five white blood cells I'm familiar with, I've been told that Monocytes can readily attack and take care of splinters - which is wood.

but, generally speaking, wood isn't something I would want to put down my digestive tract

ADDITIONAL INFO -

I just read the details you added.  since you drank the solution and didn't feel anything on the way down - that would be a plus.  Your stomach generally has a pH level ranging from 2-3 but can get as low as 1 and all those levels are quite acidic.

One type of wood most tolerant to low pH levels is called tambaqui and even that wood is only good to a pH level of around 3.5

It's quite unlikely that your wooded spoon was made of tambaqui to begin with so it's probably been dissolved by now.

also, your stomach lining regenerates itself every 5 or 6 days (assuming you're functioning properly) so on the slight chance you did get any nicks along the epithelial lining of your stomach, everything should be good as new by this time next week.

Take care!  :)

Answer 6

HAHA when I read your question I laughed. You're not going to die, unless it was big enough to choke on, which obviously it wasn't because you're well enough to ask it on Yahoo!. You will not digest it, and it's just going to go out the other end.