MRCP UK EXAMINATIONS

Detailed explanation-1: -Strong muscular contractions in the stomach wall reduce the food to chyme – a thick milky material. The pyloric sphincter at the lower end of the stomach slowly releases chyme into the duodenum. Emptying the stomach takes 2–6 hours.

Detailed explanation-2: -Food generally takes 5 hours to move through the small intestine and 10 to 59 hours to move through the colon.

Detailed explanation-3: -After chyme passes through, backward pressure helps close the sphincter, preventing backflow into the ileum. Because of this reflex, your lunch is completely emptied from your stomach and small intestine by the time you eat your dinner. It takes about 3 to 5 hours for all chyme to leave the small intestine.

Detailed explanation-4: -In a process called gastric emptying, rhythmic mixing waves force about 3 mL of chyme at a time through the pyloric sphincter and into the duodenum. Release of a greater amount of chyme at one time would overwhelm the capacity of the small intestine to handle it.