In an experiment, six doctors swallowed LEGO heads to see how long it takes excrete them out

Detachable toys and pieces of puzzle invariably carry messages on their packages that specify the age groups and a statutory warning that states swallowing small parts can be hazardous to health.

But not so long ago, a group of pediatric doctors put the warning to test by swallowing six LEGO toy heads in an experiment to see how long it would excrete them out.

We're not kidding. The team of pediatric health care professionals actually ingested small Lego heads for their study titled 'Everything is awesome: Don't forget the Lego.'

The study was published in the Journal of Paediatrics and Child Health, used two scoring systems, which were funnily named - Stool Hardness and Transit, or SHAT, and Found and Retrieved Time, or FART.

The Stool Hardness and Transit score was split into two. The first one logged the normal bowel habits of the researchers and the second score was recorded afte r they ingested the Lego heads.

Data was gathered after the two scores were compared.

On the other hand, Found and Retrieved Time or FART score required the participants to sift through their poop in the days after they ingested the pieces.

The FART score averaged 1.71 days. It meant that typically a Lego head came out of the human body in less than two days.

“A toy object quickly passes through adult subjects with no complications. This will reassure parents, and the authors advocate that no parent should be expected to search through their child's faeces to prove object retrieval.” Good point, well made," the team wrote in their findings.

While all of it may seem bizarre and unnecessary, the study did have an important goal. The unusual experiment was carried out to test whether the toys stay in the digestive system or does the body excrete it.

"Children frequently ingest coins (generally with minimal reported side effects); however, the ingestion of other items has been subject to less academic study. Parental concern regarding ingestion applies across a range of materials. In this study, we aimed to determine typical transit times for another commonly swallowed object: a Lego figurine head," reads the aim of the study publushed on onlinelibrary.wiley.com/.

According to a 2006 report, about 1,00,000 people in the United States ingest non-edible objects every year and about 80 percent of them are children.

The most commonly swallowed objects are coins and tiny toy parts.

The researchers concluded that swallowing small toy parts isn’t very dangerous for a healthy adult. However, for children, it is still dangerous as their digestive system is different and not completely developed.

It concluded - "This international, multicentre trial identified that small objects, such as those swallowed by children, are likely to pass in 1–3 days without complication. This should offer reassurance for parents." -