Gut Facts

Here are some fascinating facts about the gut:

• Bacteria live within our gut. The healthy gut is home to as many as 100,000,000,000,000 individual living microbes - ten times more than there are cells in the entire body.
  
  
• An individual's intestinal flora contains bacteria weighing approximately 1kg. If these bacteria were all lined up side by side, they would stretch twice round the equator.
  
  
• The average weight of a stool in UK adults is approximately 150 grams. Excluding water, over half of the stool comprises of bacteria.
  
  
• Most of us pass somewhere between 200 and 2,000 ml of gas per day (average, about 600 ml).
  
  
• Muscular contractions of our oesophagus are so powerful you could drink a glass of water standing on your head.
  
  
• The surface area of the small intestine is immense. If it had a smooth surface (rather than being elaborately folded) it would need to be two miles long to do its job. If it could be stretched out flat it would be the size of a tennis court.