Human_Digestion_Summary

Human Digestion Summary With just the sight and smell of food the mouth gets ready for food to enter. As it enters saliva begins to moisten and while chewing it begins to grind up into what’s called bolus so that it can be swallowed. This is one of the reasons that it’s good to chew your food well because it helps in the digestion process and of course a less of a choking hazard a well. Once it goes down the esophagus it lands into the stomach. Inside your stomach it mixes with the acid and turns it into a semiliquid called chyme. While it is turning in your stomach parts start to make its way to the small intestine. Depending on what you eat and the amount it will usually pass from the stomach two to six hours. The acids in your stomach can break down foods but the mucosa in the lining keeps your stomach walls safe from the acid. Food leaves in a liquid to paste like consistency. The gallbladder and liver help with the absorption of fats, the liver also acts as a filter for the blood that just absorbed the nutrients, while enzymes from the pancreas help in the digestion process. Most of the digestion and absorption of nutrients happens in the small intestine. Food moves into the small intestine which is divided into three sections duodenum, jejunum, and the ileum. Food that is not absorbed in the small intestine move to the large intestine through the sphincter which keeps food from going back into the small intestine. The large intestine includes the colon and the rectum, some absorption of water, vitamin and some minerals happens. It is five to six feet long. Any foods that the colon didn’t absorb get passed out of the body as feces through the anus. When you think of eating your body naturally or instinctively expands and contracts the muscles in the various parts of the digestion to move the food through even when you think of swallowing something it is almost an automatic thing for your throat to move it down through the esophagus to the stomach. References: http://corptrain.phoenix.edu/axia/sci241/sci241-digestivetract.html http://www.webmd.com/heartburn-gerd/your-digestive-system