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.
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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.
Due to their unique resistance to digestion, peanuts are employed as "marker foods" in informal tests to measure bowel transit time. This refers to the duration from eating the food to its elimination from the body. Roach highlights these aspects to illustrate the complexity of the digestive process and the varied ways different foods are processed within our systems.
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