# Digestive Tracts **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 12, 2003, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/digestive-tracts/218511 "2003-12-12T03:10:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![hauss](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/5fc32e/32.png) [@hauss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hauss)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2003, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/digestive-tracts/218511/1 "2003-12-12T03:10:08Z")
Do digestive tract lengths vary among individuals (humans)? If so, by how much and what are the stats? Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![spingears](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ebca7d/32.png) [@spingears](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spingears)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2003, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/digestive-tracts/218511/2 "2003-12-12T03:19:19Z")
Don’t have stats but it stands to reason the small framed thin persons will have less and the tall large framed persons will have more. Interesting OT factoid. There a small percentage of a fraction of a percent of person who are built opposite handed, i.e. their interior components are mirrored images of most of the population. ---
**Author:** ![spingears](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ebca7d/32.png) [@spingears](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spingears)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2003, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/digestive-tracts/218511/3 "2003-12-12T03:21:03Z")
Don’t have stats but it stands to reason the small framed thin persons will have less and the tall large framed persons will have more. Interesting OT factoid. There is a small percentage or a fraction of a percent of persons who are built opposite handed, i.e. their interior components are a mirrored image of the rest of the population. ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2003, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/digestive-tracts/218511/4 "2003-12-12T04:37:34Z")
Ah, but his heart was in the right place… ---
**Author:** ![hyjyljyj](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/0ea827/32.png) [@hyjyljyj](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hyjyljyj)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2003, 8:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/digestive-tracts/218511/5 "2003-12-12T08:10:05Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by spingears \* > \*\*Interesting OT factoid. > > There is a small percentage or a fraction of a percent of persons who are built opposite handed, i.e. their interior components are a mirrored image of the rest of the population. \*\* Sorry, but this would be a likely candidate for the urban myths category. The reason is that the number of different genes that would have to be involved simultaneously for the liver to end up on the left, the stomach and heart on the right, the aorta coming out of the right ventricle, the ascending colon on the left, etc., etc. is simply too great for such a reversal to be seen all in the same organism. It would probably be an unbelievable freak of nature that would not survive gestation due to the myriad other genetic mutations it would no doubt also have. ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2003, 9:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/digestive-tracts/218511/6 "2003-12-12T09:03:14Z")
I’m afraid you’re 100% completely wrong about that, **hyjyljyj**. The condition is called situs inversus, and according to [this](http://healthlink.mcw.edu/article/901226430.html) site, at least, it occurs in about 1 in every 7000 to 8000 people. Do a google search, and you’ll find lots of highly reputable sites explaining it. ---
**Author:** ![hyjyljyj](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/0ea827/32.png) [@hyjyljyj](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hyjyljyj)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2003, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/digestive-tracts/218511/7 "2003-12-12T15:24:14Z")
Right you are, Smeghead (nice name, by the way). I almost forgot about this rare condition. Situs inversus usually involves heart and lungs, sometimes liver, sometimes stomach as well; I was apparently reading the statement as being ALL internal organs reversed, even spleen, pancreas, intestines and heart chambers themselves. Still, my answer should have been more specific. Thanks for the clarification. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2003, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/digestive-tracts/218511/8 "2003-12-12T17:56:49Z")
In fact, a girl in my biology class in high school had this condition, which stunned the teacher but made for a fantastic discussion of the pictures of the insides of the body. As for the OP, yes, digestive tracts are of different lengths. Measuring them, however, is extremely difficult. Even during an operation, they coil over and around themselves in a way that makes using a tape measure impossible. In addition, muscle tone keeps them shorter inside the body. A fifteen foot set of intestines can be thirty feet long when relaxed.