But peanuts are hardly representative of the average food. Everyone knows-via "visual observation of stool samples," to use the New England Journal of Medicine's way of saying "a glance before flushing"-that chunks of peanuts make their way through the alimentary canal undigested. Nuts are known for this. Peanuts {and corn kernels} are so uniquely and reliably hard to break down that they are used as "marker foods" in do-it-yourself tests of bowel transit time*-the time elapsed between consumption and dismissal.
In her book "Gulp: Adventures on the Alimentary Canal," Mary Roach discusses how peanuts, unlike many other foods, often pass through the digestive system largely undigested. This phenomenon is well-known and can be observed by anyone who examines their stool, leading to the humorous notion that they provide a clear visual indicator of digestion. This characteristic is not unique to peanuts, as nuts and corn kernels also exhibit similar behavior.
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