Human_Digestion

Human Digestion Tamika Youngblood SCI/241 July 20, 2010 The digestive system is a series of organs that are joined in a long, twisting tube from the mouth to the anus. This tube has a lining called the mucosa. For example, in the mouth, stomach, and small intestine, the mucosa contains tiny glands that produce juices to help digest food. The digestive tract also contains a layer of smooth muscle that help break down food and move it along the tract. Two solid organs, the liver and the pancreas, produce digestive juices that reach the intestine through small tubes. The path food follows through the digestive system, and digestion occurs in each of the following parts of the digestive system, including the mouth, down the esophagus, the stomach, small intestines, large intestines, and exits the anus. The digestive process includes the following food path. The first major muscle movement is swallowing food or liquid. The esophagus, which connects the throat above with the stomach below, is the first organ into which the swallowed food goes' The food then enters the stomach, this completes three mechanical tasks which includes stores, mixes, and empties. First, the stomach stores the swallowed food and liquid, which requires the muscle of the upper part of the stomach to relax and accept large volume of swallowed material. Second, the lower part of the stomach mixes up the food, liquid, and digestive juices produced by the stomach. Third, the stomach empties the contents into the small intestine. The food is digested in the small intestine and dissolved by the juices from the pancreas, liver, intestine, and the contents of the intestine are mixed and pushed toward further digestion. Last, the digested nutrients are absorbed through the intestinal walls. The waste products, including undigested parts of the food, known as fiber, and older cells that have been shed from the mucosa, move into the colon. Waste products usually in the colon remain for a day or two until the feces are expelled by a bowel movement.