Contents:
- Medical Video: Why Can't You Digest Grass?
- Can humans eat grass?
- What happens if humans are desperate to eat grass?
- Tips for consuming grass in an emergency situation
Medical Video: Why Can't You Digest Grass?
Homo sapiens, the human species, can be classified as an omnivor or eater of all. Humans can eat plants and meat. However, if humans can consume all kinds of food sources, shouldn't there be a hunger outbreak in the world? Why are people who are starving, stranded on an uninhabited island, or lost in the wilderness not eating grass to survive?
Now, to find out what will happen if you are desperate to consume grass in the yard or in the fields, see the full explanation below.
Can humans eat grass?
Basically, grass is not a type of poisonous plant that can cause death. So in theory maybe humans eat grass. Then why doesn't anyone want to cook grass into vegetables for consumption?
Apparently even though grass is not toxic, the human digestive system is not designed to break down and absorb grass in the body. Unlike herbivores such as cattle and goats, humans do not have cellulase enzymes and special microbes that can absorb grass and turn it into a nutrient-filled food.
This is what distinguishes ordinary grass with nutrient-rich vegetables such as lettuce, papaya leaves, spinach, and kale. In other words, it's no use for humans to eat grass. This is why even though humans might eat grass, even since prehistoric times this was not done.
What happens if humans are desperate to eat grass?
In some cases, there were times when humans were finally forced to eat grass because there were no other food sources available. For example, when Ireland experienced a famine in the 1840s. Also when the eastern African continent, exactly countries like Somalia and Ethiopia experienced a drought in 2011.
So desperate, people chose to eat grass just to fill their stomachs and survive. Unfortunately, humans cannot digest grass. As a result, people who eat grass actually experience serious digestive disorders and malnutrition. So even if humans are starved, grass is not the right solution.
Tips for consuming grass in an emergency situation
Even though humans can't eat grass, it doesn't mean that in an emergency situation you can't use plants that can be found almost anywhere. For example, when you climb a mountain and get lost without water or food supplies.
You can chew the grass until it's crushed in the mouth, but don't swallow it! You must remove the chewed grass. That way, you can sip water contained in the grass. This is useful to prevent dehydration without having to risk digesting grass.
To meet nutritional needs such as protein, minerals, and fat, you should instead eat forest insects. Edible insects and increasing your nutritional intake include beetles, grasshoppers, dragonflies and caterpillars.
