It Takes Roughly 2 Days to Pass a LEGO If You Eat One

Results of a recent study indicate that a LEGO figurine head takes just under two days to pass through your digestive system if you happen to mistake it for a particularly hard kernel of corn.

The study, published in the Journal of Pediatrics and Child Health, is titled Everything is awesome: Don’t forget the Lego, and was undertaken by a group of researchers associated with Don’t Forget the Bubble.

In the small-scale study, six pediatric healthcare professionals (three male, three female) each ingested a LEGO figurine head. Pre-ingestion habits were measured by the SHAT (Stool Hardness and Transit) score, while the amount of time it took to find said LEGO head in the participant’s stool was called the FART (Found and Retrieved Time) score. Between the six participants, an average FART score of 1.71 days was recorded, and SHAT scores didn’t noticeably change during the study.

Interestingly, one male subject was never able to find the LEGO head in his stool, even after searching for two weeks – this anomaly was not included as a factor in the aggregated FART score. Discussing what happened to the head in an FAQ, the team responded “Who knows? Perhaps one day many years from now, a gastroenterologist performing a colonoscopy will find it staring back at him.”

On average, it took less time for the LEGO head to travel through the female participants, though the paper noted “There was some evidence that females may be more accomplished at searching through their stools than males, but this could not be statistically validated.” Ultimately, the team acknowledged that its small sample size wasn’t exactly hard science, saying the study was largely “a bit of fun in the run up to Xmas.”

The study concluded that LEGO heads can pass through an adult digestive tract without complications, and surmised that it should be similarly harmless for children who happen to get an appetite for plastic. The team also suggested that parents not worry about searching through objects in their children’s stool, as it is “difficult to find.”

In other LEGO news, check out the life-size, drivable Bugatti that LEGO built, and this extremely detailed LEGO Hogwarts Castle.

Colin Stevens is a news writer for IGN, and he hopes everyone has the happiest of holidays. Follow him on Twitter.