Perodicticus potto
Former Member
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- Nov 9, 2011
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Is there some information (a link?) about duodenal contents, unrelated to stomach contents, that indicates time of death?
I don't have a link handy (on phone), but one reason stomach contents aren't a reliable indicator of time of death is that the acid in the stomach can keep digesting food after death. Passage of food from the stomach to the duodenum, however, cannot happen after death, because it depends on a chemical signal that is ultimately controlled by the brain. No more brain activity, no more chemical signals. The contents of the duodenum can therefore offer a clue as to how far digestion had progressed at the time of death. If we know what time the last food was eaten, that can give a rough idea of when the person died.