Six people swallowed LEGOs and explored their own poo for science

/ The horror: It took between 1.14 and 3.04 days for the swallowed LEGO heads to reappear in the feces of the subjects, for an average of 1.71 days.Warner Bros. Pictures

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This is good news for concerned parents whose grandchildren have ingested a LEGO (or two). A new study by pediatric researchers concluded that the toy should reappear in their poop in a few days. They know this because their test subjects voluntarily swallowed LEGO figurine heads and watched for the time needed to retrieve them.

Yes, it is a scientific article, the well-known Journal of Pediatrics and Child Health, entitled "Everything is great: do not forget LEGO". This is the same group of pediatricians as the popular blog. "We finally answered the burning question: How long does it take for a LEGO head ingested to pass?" Co-founder of the DFTB and co-author of the article. "It's a dedication to pediatrics. But it was worthwhile to advance science and pediatric emergency care. "

We are joking, but that really answers a valid concern. Like Bruce Y. Lee, a professor at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, little kids like to swallow things, especially coins. Previous studies have examined the passage of parts in the digestive tract, including those that revealed that most parts passed harmlessly within three to six days.

But no one had looked closely at the second most commonly swallowed item – toy pieces. And the LEGO figureheads are especially tempting for the gastronomically curious toddler.

/ "We searched the poo so you did not have to do it." T. Davis et al. / Do not Forget the Bubbles

How would you even find six adults (three men and three women) willing to swallow LEGO pieces? Davis et al. recruited their subjects to the online community of pediatric hospital professionals. They eliminated anyone who has ever had gastrointestinal surgery, has difficulty swallowing objects or has an "aversion to research in faeces".

Each subject kept a diary on the stool, registering his stool before and after swallowing the LEGO heads. They evaluated the frequency and laxity of their stools based on the SHAT (hardness and stool transit) score of the research team. (Who said pediatricians did not have a sense of humor?) After swallowing the toy, they spent the next three days examining their own poo to determine when LEGO's head would reappear. The number of days that it took to get by and get it back was dubbed the Time Score Found and Recovered (FART).

A poor grass has never recovered the head of LEGO.

Five of the six subjects had FART scores ranging from 1.14 days to 3.04 days, for an average of 1.71 days (approximately 41 hours). And a poor grass has never recovered the head of LEGO. Damien Roland, co-author of the article and pediatric consultant, has been talking for two weeks with his own poop, in the hope that the toy part will reappear, but to no avail. Maybe a little more fiber in the diet would help?

As, this is a small study, focusing on adults rather than young children. SHAT and FART scores may vary more widely in the general population. It was also not a blind study because the authors felt that it would be too much to ask the partners or colleagues of the study participants to sift the poo on their behalf. . And other small pieces of toy of various shapes can take more or less time to cross the body.

"A toy object quickly passes into uncomplicated adult subjects," conclude the authors, adding an important caveat: "It is recommended that parents not look for the object in the stool because it is difficult to find . "Swallow those LEGO figurine heads in the first place, m? Kay?

DOI: Journal of Pediatrics and Child Health, 2018. ()