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jjwalter2001 's review for:
Gulp: Adventures on the Alimentary Canal
by Mary Roach
Selected quotes...
"For one thing, smell, unlike our other senses, isn't consciously process. The input goes straight to the emotion and memory centers... Humans are better equipped for sight than smell. We process visual input ten times faster that olfactory."
"According to the journal 'Chemical Senses,' a 'typical human sniff' has a duration of 1.6 seconds and a volume of about two cups."
"Pet foods come in a variety of flavors because that's what we humans like, and we assume our pets like what we like. We have that wrong.
"...cats are more or less 'monoguesic,' meaning they stick to one food. Outdoor cats tend to be either mousers or birders, not both."
"Liquid flows into the microscopic canyons of the tongue's papillae, coming into contact with the 'buds' of taste receptor cells that cover them. That's one reason to be grateful for saliva."
"...what it is like to eat without perceiving tastes...situation is well beyond unpleasant. 'Your body is saying, 'It's not food, it's cardboard,' and it won't let you swallow. No matter how much you tell your brain that you need to eat to survive, you'll gag. These people can actually die of starvation."
"Interpreting animals' eating behaviors is tricky. By way of example, one of the highest compliments a dog can pay its food is to vomit."
"Breast milk and amniotic fluid carry the flavors of the mother's goods, and studies consistently show that babies grow up to be more accepting of flavors they've sampled while in the womb and while breastfeeding."
"The notion that food smells make your mouth water is, science says, erroneous."
"An intriguing double standard applies to your own saliva. As long as it stays in your mouth, it's benign, welcomed even, no more offensive than the water it tastes like. Outside your mouth, it's almost as vile and contemptible as a stranger's."
"As a germ killer, saliva puts mouthwash to shame."
"Human saliva contains histatins, which speed wound closure independent of their antibacterial action."
"To keep your he-man jaw muscles from smashing your precious teeth, the only set you have, the body evolved an automated braking system faster and more sophisticated than anything on a Lexus."
"Crispness and crunch are the body's shorthand for 'healthy.' The snack-food empires have cashed in on this fact, product crisp crunchable foods..."
"A healthy adult has a new stomach lining every three days. (More clever stomach tricks: key components of gastric acid are secreted separately, lest they ravage the cells that manufacture them.)"
"A rectum that remains distended long enough will eventually trigger a slowing or even a shutdown of the production line, all the way upstream to the stomach, if need be."
"People who understand anatomy are often cowed by the feats of the lowly anus. 'Think of it,' said Robery Rosenbluth... 'No engineer could design something as multifunctional and fine-tuned as an anus. To call someone an asshole is really bragging him up.'"
"President James Garfield...was fed nothing but nutrient enemas prepared in the dispensary of the United States Surgeon General." (after being shot)
"The Church sought an answer to nagging question 'Does rectal consumption of beef broth break one's Lenten fast?' This was a subject of some controversy within the Church. Pharmacists of the day were turning a brisk business administering bouillon enemas to nuns and other pious, peckish Catholics who found that this helped them make it to lunch."
"For rodents and rabbits, in whom vitamins B and K are produced exclusively in the colon (by bacteria that live there), the self-manufactured pellet is a large, soft daily vitamin."
"Human beings to not defecate through the same orifice they eat with. This is a feat reserved for the cnidarians - sea anemones and jellyfish being the best-known examples."
"...'bed pan death.' Lying flat is as counterproductive a posture as squatting is productive. Squatting passively increases pressure on the rectum. It does the pushing for you."
"This was the low point of Presley's career: the bulky jumpsuit and isosceles sideburns era. His colon has expanded so dramatically that it crowded his diaphragm and had being to compromise his breathing and singing."
"Even now, the digestive tract has its own immune system and its own primitive brain, the so-called enteric nervous system."
"For one thing, smell, unlike our other senses, isn't consciously process. The input goes straight to the emotion and memory centers... Humans are better equipped for sight than smell. We process visual input ten times faster that olfactory."
"According to the journal 'Chemical Senses,' a 'typical human sniff' has a duration of 1.6 seconds and a volume of about two cups."
"Pet foods come in a variety of flavors because that's what we humans like, and we assume our pets like what we like. We have that wrong.
"...cats are more or less 'monoguesic,' meaning they stick to one food. Outdoor cats tend to be either mousers or birders, not both."
"Liquid flows into the microscopic canyons of the tongue's papillae, coming into contact with the 'buds' of taste receptor cells that cover them. That's one reason to be grateful for saliva."
"...what it is like to eat without perceiving tastes...situation is well beyond unpleasant. 'Your body is saying, 'It's not food, it's cardboard,' and it won't let you swallow. No matter how much you tell your brain that you need to eat to survive, you'll gag. These people can actually die of starvation."
"Interpreting animals' eating behaviors is tricky. By way of example, one of the highest compliments a dog can pay its food is to vomit."
"Breast milk and amniotic fluid carry the flavors of the mother's goods, and studies consistently show that babies grow up to be more accepting of flavors they've sampled while in the womb and while breastfeeding."
"The notion that food smells make your mouth water is, science says, erroneous."
"An intriguing double standard applies to your own saliva. As long as it stays in your mouth, it's benign, welcomed even, no more offensive than the water it tastes like. Outside your mouth, it's almost as vile and contemptible as a stranger's."
"As a germ killer, saliva puts mouthwash to shame."
"Human saliva contains histatins, which speed wound closure independent of their antibacterial action."
"To keep your he-man jaw muscles from smashing your precious teeth, the only set you have, the body evolved an automated braking system faster and more sophisticated than anything on a Lexus."
"Crispness and crunch are the body's shorthand for 'healthy.' The snack-food empires have cashed in on this fact, product crisp crunchable foods..."
"A healthy adult has a new stomach lining every three days. (More clever stomach tricks: key components of gastric acid are secreted separately, lest they ravage the cells that manufacture them.)"
"A rectum that remains distended long enough will eventually trigger a slowing or even a shutdown of the production line, all the way upstream to the stomach, if need be."
"People who understand anatomy are often cowed by the feats of the lowly anus. 'Think of it,' said Robery Rosenbluth... 'No engineer could design something as multifunctional and fine-tuned as an anus. To call someone an asshole is really bragging him up.'"
"President James Garfield...was fed nothing but nutrient enemas prepared in the dispensary of the United States Surgeon General." (after being shot)
"The Church sought an answer to nagging question 'Does rectal consumption of beef broth break one's Lenten fast?' This was a subject of some controversy within the Church. Pharmacists of the day were turning a brisk business administering bouillon enemas to nuns and other pious, peckish Catholics who found that this helped them make it to lunch."
"For rodents and rabbits, in whom vitamins B and K are produced exclusively in the colon (by bacteria that live there), the self-manufactured pellet is a large, soft daily vitamin."
"Human beings to not defecate through the same orifice they eat with. This is a feat reserved for the cnidarians - sea anemones and jellyfish being the best-known examples."
"...'bed pan death.' Lying flat is as counterproductive a posture as squatting is productive. Squatting passively increases pressure on the rectum. It does the pushing for you."
"This was the low point of Presley's career: the bulky jumpsuit and isosceles sideburns era. His colon has expanded so dramatically that it crowded his diaphragm and had being to compromise his breathing and singing."
"Even now, the digestive tract has its own immune system and its own primitive brain, the so-called enteric nervous system."