# Lungs and Tiny Bits of Food **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 10, 2013, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lungs-and-tiny-bits-of-food/646774 "2013-01-10T18:19:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Find\_Friends](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c37758/32.png) [@Find\_Friends](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Find_Friends)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2013, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lungs-and-tiny-bits-of-food/646774/1 "2013-01-10T18:19:53Z")
Let’s say that an individual’s choke-response is imperfect and a tiny bit of food enters a lung, unknown to them. What would happen to such a bit of food? Obviously lungs lack digestive ability, but do they have some other capability of cleansing themselves? [del]Need answer fast![/del] 😃 ---
**Author:** ![bleach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bleach/32/3106_2.png) [@bleach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bleach)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2013, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lungs-and-tiny-bits-of-food/646774/2 "2013-01-10T19:06:19Z")
A similar question was answered in [a previous thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=152427) by Qadgop and some others. Here was one of Qadgop’s responses: > [@Can lungs remove food?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-lungs-remove-food/144739/10): > > Lungs clean themselves of small particulate matter pretty easy and regularly with the cilia (hairlike structures) that line the bronchioles and sweep it out. ---
**Author:** ![USCDiver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/uscdiver/32/354_2.png) [@USCDiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/USCDiver)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2013, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lungs-and-tiny-bits-of-food/646774/3 "2013-01-10T19:09:42Z")
See [Mucociliary Escalator](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Respiratory_epithelium#Mucociliary_Escalator) ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2013, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lungs-and-tiny-bits-of-food/646774/4 "2013-01-10T21:03:16Z")
> [@USCDiver](#): > > See [Mucociliary Escalator](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Respiratory_epithelium#Mucociliary_Escalator) Band name. ---
**Author:** ![Anny\_Middon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bc79bd/32.png) [@Anny\_Middon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anny_Middon)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2013, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lungs-and-tiny-bits-of-food/646774/5 "2013-01-10T23:22:23Z")
If the person is incapacitated (in a coma, very drunk, etc.) aspirating even a small bit of food can cause pneumonia. Aspirating a larger amount can be more directly fatal. Jimi Hendrix aspirated vomit and died. ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2013, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lungs-and-tiny-bits-of-food/646774/6 "2013-01-10T23:54:33Z")
wait, isn’t that called coughing? ---
**Author:** ![GiantRat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@GiantRat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GiantRat)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2013, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lungs-and-tiny-bits-of-food/646774/7 "2013-01-10T23:57:42Z")
> [@Anny\_Middon](#): > > If the person is incapacitated (in a coma, very drunk, etc.) aspirating even a small bit of food can cause pneumonia. Aspirating a larger amount can be more directly fatal. Jimi Hendrix aspirated vomit and died. Is this why we don’t jam cheeseburgers down the throats of the comatose? :eek: Better go get the plunger to get that meal out of Auntie Matilda’s maw. ---
**Author:** ![dracoi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/90db22/32.png) [@dracoi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dracoi)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2013, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lungs-and-tiny-bits-of-food/646774/8 "2013-01-11T00:59:28Z")
> [@Anny\_Middon](#): > > If the person is incapacitated (in a coma, very drunk, etc.) aspirating even a small bit of food can cause pneumonia. Aspirating a larger amount can be more directly fatal. Jimi Hendrix aspirated vomit and died. My mother-in-law died from Parkinson’s via this exact mechanism. Poor muscle control meant she had trouble swallowing and couldn’t cough effectively either. So every time she ate, little bits of food were getting into her lungs and she was too generally weak to fight off the pneumonia that resulted. ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Il\_Palazzo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Lord\_Il\_Palazzo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Il_Palazzo)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2013, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lungs-and-tiny-bits-of-food/646774/9 "2013-01-11T01:04:56Z")
> [@Ulfreida](#): > > wait, isn’t that called coughing? This was my reaction. I routinely have coughing fits after meals (especially if I’m eating something dry or crumbly) and this is one of the explanations I’ve heard. Particles of food getting into the trachea or lungs, sometimes as a result of eating too fast or not chewing properly, can stimulate a coughing as your body forces the particles out. (Why it waits until the meal’s over, I don’t know.) ---
**Author:** ![Find\_Friends](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c37758/32.png) [@Find\_Friends](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Find_Friends)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2013, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lungs-and-tiny-bits-of-food/646774/10 "2013-01-13T23:20:53Z")
> [@bleach](#): > > A similar question was answered in [a previous thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=152427) by Qadgop and some others. Here was one of Qadgop’s responses: > [@USCDiver](#): > > See [Mucociliary Escalator](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Respiratory_epithelium#Mucociliary_Escalator) Thank you and to all that responded. ---
**Author:** ![TheBori](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ee7513/32.png) [@TheBori](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheBori)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2013, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lungs-and-tiny-bits-of-food/646774/11 "2013-01-14T22:08:35Z")
Ona side note…the reason asbestos causes asbestosis and lung cancer is that the size of the asbestos crystal is too large to be absorbed by the lungs and too small to be expelled (up the escalator). The crystals remain in the lung and the body “grows” around them…abnormal growth…badness. Like Dracoi, my mother succumbed to pneumonia resulting from aspiration of food. The (poorly designed, in my opinion) muscular crossing of her esophagus and bronchia did not close one or the other sufficiently. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2013, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lungs-and-tiny-bits-of-food/646774/12 "2013-01-14T23:22:52Z")
> [@Anny\_Middon](#): > > If the person is incapacitated (in a coma, very drunk, etc.) aspirating even a small bit of food can cause pneumonia. Aspirating a larger amount can be more directly fatal. Jimi Hendrix aspirated vomit and died. Drummer Eric “Stumpy Joe” Childs of Spinal Tap died of aspirating someone else’s vomit. ---
**Author:** ![August\_West](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/august_west/32/18069_2.png) [@August\_West](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/August_West)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2013, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lungs-and-tiny-bits-of-food/646774/13 "2013-01-16T22:38:17Z")
> [@Leo\_Bloom](#): > > Drummer Eric “Stumpy Joe” Childs of Spinal Tap died of aspirating someone else’s vomit. That was never proven. You know why. ---
**Author:** ![racer72](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/racer72/32/3075_2.png) [@racer72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racer72)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2013, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lungs-and-tiny-bits-of-food/646774/14 "2013-01-17T01:16:19Z")
Many years ago I inhaled a very small piece of aluminum while drilling a hole overhead with my mouth open. A week later I ended up in the hospital, I was diagnosed with pneumonia. A round of antibiotics and some good pain relievers got me through it. ---
**Author:** ![AaronX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/7bcc69/32.png) [@AaronX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AaronX)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2013, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lungs-and-tiny-bits-of-food/646774/15 "2013-01-17T01:57:23Z")
Do you mean antibiotics got rid of the infection while your body expelled it on its own? How do these bits get past the vocal cords, anyway? I thought the vocal cords connected to the walls of the trachea. From the side, the walls would look like: **|** so does the food leave the wall, go across the vocal cords, back across to the wall, then continue? ---
**Author:** ![HoneyBadgerDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honeybadgerdc/32/1033_2.png) [@HoneyBadgerDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HoneyBadgerDC)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2013, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lungs-and-tiny-bits-of-food/646774/16 "2013-01-17T03:10:34Z")
Last year my girlfriend was diagnosed with a large tumor at the bottom of her left lung. I explained to the Dr. That recently she had a bout with very bad breath that smelled like rotting vegetables and she is a periodic alcoholic that goes into stupor like state when she drinks. They did 3 biopsies all negative for cancer but decided to remove the lung anyway because the tumor wa so large. I asked the Dr afterward if it was scar tissue or cancer and he seemed evasive saying they found a few cancer cells around the mass but the mass was indeed some kind of scar tissue that looked like a wad of chewing gum. He felt inhaling into the left side would be very difficult but I still feel it was an inhaled vegetable. For a solid month she had severe coufing fits and horrible breath then went back to normal almost about 1 month before the tumor was discovered. I don’t believe Some Dr’s really like to listen to a lay person.