What Really Happens When Food ‘Goes Down the Wrong Pipe’
We’ve all had the moment where we start coughing like we’re dying because a crumb of food or a sip of water “went down the wrong way.” It’s a phrase we all say, but what does it actually mean? Why does our body take in food without incident 99.9% of the time, and then totally mess up the task 0.01% of the time?