How do we digest food? Detailed answer

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How do we digest food? Detailed answer

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How do we digest food?

Eating is not enough for us to live and grow. Food must be modified in order to be accepted by the body, and this process is called "digestion."

Digestion begins when food enters the mouth, is chewed and swallowed. Then it continues in the digestive tract, which is a long, sometimes winding tube that runs through the entire body. All parts of the digestive tract are interconnected, but differ in the nature of their work. The mouth leads to a wide os in the throat, which is the entrance for both food and air. The esophagus passes through the chest and connects the pharynx and stomach. The stomach leads into a coiled small intestine. The last part of the alimentary tract is the large intestine.

Let us briefly describe what happens to food during digestion. In the mouth, saliva helps break down starch (found in corn and potatoes, for example). As the food is moistened and ground, it descends through the pharynx, passes through the esophagus, and finally enters the stomach.

It is in the stomach that most of the digestion process takes place. Here, the juices secreted from the walls of the stomach are mixed with food. One of these juices is hydrochloric acid. Another secret secreted by the stomach, pepsin, helps break down protein into simpler forms, aiding its absorption. Starch continues to be broken down until the contents of the stomach become highly acidic. Then the assimilation of starch practically stops.

So, liquid food in the stomach, shaking, mixes well with the digestive juice. Its further path - into the small intestine through the valve at the lower end of the stomach - the "gatekeeper".

The small intestine is a tube 6,5-7,5 meters long, twisting in a spiral. In the first part of the small intestine - the duodenum - digestion continues. Help break down food juices from the pancreas and liver. Here, the breakdown of proteins and the assimilation of starch ends, the fats are refined, that is, they are split into cleaner parts, and the digested food is absorbed into the blood and lymph. Once in the large intestine, the remnants of food harden, as water is sucked out of them here. Now they can leave the body as waste.

Author: Likum A.

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