# Is a zero-waste diet possible? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 21, 2003, 8:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-zero-waste-diet-possible/220292 "2003-12-21T08:27:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Lithium](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/71c47a/32.png) [@Lithium](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lithium)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2003, 8:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-zero-waste-diet-possible/220292/1 "2003-12-21T08:27:33Z")
I heard that when babies are fed with the umbilical cord they are fed only essential nutrients, and therefore the baby produces no solid waste. Is this tue? Maybe this could be replicated with a juice blender and the right ingedients for adults. ---
**Author:** ![Blake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a9a28c/32.png) [@Blake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blake)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2003, 12:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-zero-waste-diet-possible/220292/2 "2003-12-21T12:35:13Z")
> [@](#): > > I heard that when babies are fed with the umbilical cord they are fed only essential nutrients, and therefore the baby produces no solid waste. Is this tue? No, it isn’t. Foetuses produce crap just like adults, just not as much. Babies in prolonged or distressing deliveries often defecate into the amniotic fluid causing all sorts of problems when they breathe it in. > [@](#): > > Maybe this could be replicated with a juice blender and the right ingedients for adults. No, and for the same reasons. Faeces isn’t just or mainly unabsorbed waste. Most of it tends to be bacteria, which would still grow and pass through even on a diet of sugar and water. Then you would still need to deal with the cells that are constantly shed from the wall of the gut, the substances dumped into the gut via the pancreas and so on. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2003, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-zero-waste-diet-possible/220292/3 "2003-12-21T12:58:14Z")
Some of the mass of feces (and also the main reason fecal matter is brown) is also bilirubin, the end-result of the breakdown of red blood cells, according to [Cecil](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2_381.html). Naturally, since red blood cells are in a constant state of production and destruction, and the human body is not capable of complete recycling, even a mega-efficient diet will require disposal of waste sooner or later. ---
**Author:** ![Blake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a9a28c/32.png) [@Blake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blake)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2003, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-zero-waste-diet-possible/220292/4 "2003-12-21T13:13:58Z")
Bryan bilirubin comes under the heading of ‘substances dumped into the gut via the pancreas’. While technically a liver product, the duct passes through the pancreas. ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2003, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-zero-waste-diet-possible/220292/5 "2003-12-21T14:07:39Z")
[Never poop again!](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=139016) ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2003, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-zero-waste-diet-possible/220292/6 "2003-12-21T16:31:59Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Blake \* > \*\*Bryan bilirubin comes under the heading of ‘substances dumped into the gut via the pancreas’. While technically a liver product, the duct passes through the pancreas. \*\* Sorry, no. It may share a common duct with the pancreas but bilirubin goes thru the liver, **not** the pancreas. Here’s a helpful illustration [![](http://www.thaiclinic.com/images/biliary_anatomy.gif) ](http://www.thaiclinic.com/images/biliary_anatomy.gif) And meconium (fetal stool) is definitely a common, sticky, nasty product! QtM, MD ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2003, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-zero-waste-diet-possible/220292/7 "2003-12-21T17:21:43Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Blake \* > \*\*Bryan bilirubin comes under the heading of ‘substances dumped into the gut via the pancreas’. While technically a liver product, the duct passes through the pancreas. \*\* So? Even if your statement was true (and Qadgop disagrees), the pancreas has no means of disposing of the end result of red blood cells breaking down when they reach the end of their life cycle. The body may be able to recycle with extreme efficiency, but nothing is going to stop _some_ waste from being produced, and that such waste only really has one way to exit. The only way your diet could possibly prevent this is if:[list=1] [li]It contains a chemical which makes red blood cells immortal, which is unlikely; or[/li][li]It prevents your body from producing new red blood cells, in whch case death is imminent.[/li][/list=1] ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2003, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-zero-waste-diet-possible/220292/8 "2003-12-21T17:28:44Z")
There will always be waste as long as there is a GI tract. Natural secretions produced by the cells lining the GI tract will eventually result in enough semi-solid material which will need to be eliminated. Add in the secretions of the liver and pancreas, and one will always need to excrete eventually. Now remove the entire GI tract (or at least the esophagus, stomach, and intestines) and subsist completely on hyperalimentation, and you stand a chance of never having to eliminate solid waste. But you’ll have to spit out all your saliva and nasal and lung secretions. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2003, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-zero-waste-diet-possible/220292/9 "2003-12-21T17:30:24Z")
Oh, and you’ll need some sort of external ostomy to collect drainage from the liver and pancreas too, if the rest of the GI tract is removed. So you’ll still eliminate. Remove the pancreas and take insulin shots, and you won’t have to deal with those secretions. But don’t even think of trying to manage without your liver! ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2003, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-zero-waste-diet-possible/220292/10 "2003-12-21T17:51:17Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Qadgop the Mercotan \* > \*\*But you’ll have to spit out all your saliva and nasal and lung secretions. \*\* Way ahead of you. ---
**Author:** ![Bob55](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e9c0ed/32.png) [@Bob55](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bob55)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2003, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-zero-waste-diet-possible/220292/11 "2003-12-21T21:10:21Z")
Well, you’ll always produce some waste, but I can attest that on a low-calorie diet with exercise you can easily go 3-4 days without having a bowel movement, and even those will be small. And the opposite it true (for me at least) - a diet of Wendys and China Buffet will easily put you on the toilet 2 times a day 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Blake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a9a28c/32.png) [@Blake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blake)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2003, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-zero-waste-diet-possible/220292/12 "2003-12-21T23:55:42Z")
> [@](#): > > So? Even if your statement was true (and Qadgop disagrees), the pancreas has no means of disposing of the end result of red blood cells breaking down when they reach the end of their life cycle. The body may be able to recycle with extreme efficiency, but nothing is going to stop some waste from being produced, and that such waste only really has one way to exit. Yes, that is exactly what I said in my first post.