# What happens to food that goes down the wrong pipe? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 18, 2009, 5:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-to-food-that-goes-down-the-wrong-pipe/521721 "2009-12-18T05:52:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2009, 5:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-to-food-that-goes-down-the-wrong-pipe/521721/1 "2009-12-18T05:52:24Z")
We’ve all had a morsel go down the breather instead of the eater, but what happens to those cough-making bits? ---
**Author:** ![fshdude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ee59a6/32.png) [@fshdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fshdude)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2009, 6:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-to-food-that-goes-down-the-wrong-pipe/521721/2 "2009-12-18T06:15:46Z")
pretty sure cilia on the tissue or some crap like that bring it back up… ---
**Author:** ![horsetech](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dec6dc/32.png) [@horsetech](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/horsetech)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2009, 6:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-to-food-that-goes-down-the-wrong-pipe/521721/3 "2009-12-18T06:22:50Z")
Well, coughing itself helps expel some of it. Macrophages in your lungs phagocytose foreign material, presumably including last night’s dinner. In a worst-case scenario, it makes some bacteria very happy and they sit down there in your lungs munching on your taco salad and getting bacterial heartburn (OK, I made that last part up), resulting in aspiration pneumonia. ---
**Author:** ![Springtime\_for\_Spacers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Springtime\_for\_Spacers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Springtime_for_Spacers)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2009, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-to-food-that-goes-down-the-wrong-pipe/521721/4 "2009-12-18T18:04:14Z")
Only yesterday I was reading [this](http://www.thestar.co.uk/news/Tributes-to-39miracle39-medics-who.5915247.jp) story (with a happy ending) about a baby who aspirated a peanut. > [@](#): > > Eventually, doctors located the peanut in George’s lungs. > Dave said: "The nut hadn’t decomposed because there is no acid, like in the stomach, to get rid of it. It became a breeding bed for bacteria. It wasn’t a very graceful surgery, and they had to wait until he was stable enough to put a metal device down his already inflamed throat. Once it was out, they still had to deal with the infection. So, ouch, the worst case scenario is bad. ---
**Author:** ![pan1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e495f1/32.png) [@pan1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pan1)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2009, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-to-food-that-goes-down-the-wrong-pipe/521721/5 "2009-12-18T18:13:22Z")
Either you cough it back up or it stays there. If it stays there it can get ugly - as mentioned. ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2009, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-to-food-that-goes-down-the-wrong-pipe/521721/6 "2009-12-18T18:13:44Z")
It can trigger an autoimmune response such as [this case of pig brain mist](http://www.physorg.com/news154721268.html) being inhaled by processing workers. ---
**Author:** ![madrabbitwoman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c37758/32.png) [@madrabbitwoman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madrabbitwoman)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2009, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-to-food-that-goes-down-the-wrong-pipe/521721/7 "2009-12-19T01:43:02Z")
My personal story (some ickyness involved) Last year ( few days after Christmas) I inhaled something - couldn’t cough it up and I was REALLY trying I was even vomiting. Fast forward to new years eve - I have been coughing steadily since the inhalation. I’m out with friend on a house boat and we are going down the river and I’m coughing my heart out - suddenly cough cough sploooork: a big gob of greeen goo containting a one winged fly :eek: An hour later I coughed up the other wing. I am now P.A.R.A.N.O.I.D about inhaling stuff ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2009, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-to-food-that-goes-down-the-wrong-pipe/521721/8 "2009-12-19T01:47:20Z")
> [@madrabbitwoman](#): > > My personal story… and I’m coughing my heart out - suddenly cough cough sploooork: a big gob of greeen goo containting a one winged fly :eek: > An hour later I coughed up the other wing. That’ll teach you to eat fast food. No more lunches on the fly, eh? ---
**Author:** ![T.Slothrop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3e96dc/32.png) [@T.Slothrop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/T.Slothrop)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2009, 7:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-to-food-that-goes-down-the-wrong-pipe/521721/9 "2009-12-20T07:15:59Z")
The other half of the story, or perhaps the story from the other half of the family: In Korea I had this one young Sergeant who got a call from his wife that his son was choking and she was taking him to the hospital. He gets no more word from her and \*\*no more sleep \*\*for the next three days. There were no cell phones in those days so she could’t call him from the hospital. It turned out that the boy had inhaled a peanut and they got it out somehow.