Our Digestive System
Digestive System: Get to know more about our organs working together to convert food into energy and basic nutrients to feed the entire body.
The digestive system is responsible for taking whole foods and turning them into energy and nutrients to allow the body to function, grow, and repair itself. The six primary processes of the digestive system include:
➤Ingestion of food/ intake of food.
➤Secretion of fluids and digestive enzymes
➤Mixing and movement of food and wastes through the body
➤Digestion of food into smaller pieces
➤Absorption of nutrients
➤Excretion of wastes
Here are the TEAM inside us that works together to supply us with energy and nutrients!
MOUTH
Inside the mouth are many accessory organs, Teeth chop food into small pieces, which are moistened by saliva before the tongue and other muscles push the food into the pharynx. Amazing team work!
Pharynx
The pharynx, or throat, is a funnel-shaped tube connected to the posterior end of the mouth. It has two different functions, it contains a flap of tissue known as the epiglottis that acts as a switch to route food to the esophagus and air to the larynx. The pharynx is responsible for the passing of masses of chewed food from the mouth to the esophagus. In the respiratory system, air from the nasal cavity passes through the pharynx on its way to the larynx and eventually the lungs.
Esophagus
The esophagus carries swallowed masses of chewed food along its length. At the inferior end of the esophagus is a muscular ring, the lower Stomach, gallbladder and pancreasesophageal sphincter or cardiac sphincter. The Sphincter is to close of the end of the esophagus and trap food in the stomach.
Stomach
This major organ acts as a storage tank for food so that the body has time to digest large meals properly. It contains hydrochloric acid and digestive enzymes that continue the digestion of food that began in the mouth.
Small Intestine
The small intestine is a long, thin tube about 1 inch in diameter and about 10 feet long that is part of the lower gastrointestinal tract. The entire small intestine is coiled like a hose and the inside surface is full of many ridges and folds. These folds are used to maximize the digestion of food and absorption of nutrients. Around 90% of all nutrients have been extracted from the food that entered it by the time food leaves the small intestines.
Liver and Gallbladder
The main function of the liver in digestion is the production of bile and its secretion into the small intestine. The gallbladder is used to store and recycle excess bile from the small intestine so that it can be reused for the digestion of subsequent meals.
Pancreas
The pancreas secretes digestive enzymes into the small intestine to complete the chemical digestion of foods.
Large Intestine
The large intestine is a long, thick tube about 2.5 inches in diameter and about 5 feet long. It absorbs water and contains many symbiotic bacteria that aid in the breaking down of wastes to extract some small amounts of nutrients. Feces in the large intestine exit the body through the anal canal.
(source: Innerbody/ Tim Barclay, PhD )