Food Digestion Essay

Improved Essays
Digestion can be described as food being broken down into its most basic and simple components so that we can absorb the nutrients to give us energy and nutrition. Digestion occurs in what is known as the gastrointestinal (GI) tract which consists of the mouth, esophagus, stomach, small intestine, large intestine (colon), and other important organs such as salivary glands, the liver, pancreas, and gallbladder.
Digestion first occurs with food entering the mouth. Food is usually comprised of three macronutrients: carbohydrates, fats (lipids), and proteins. In the mouth mechanical digestion via the grinding of food between teeth and movement of the tongue help mix the food with fluid excreted by salivary glands in the mouth known as saliva. Saliva helps makes the food moist and easier to digest and sallow. More importantly saliva helps start the chemical digestion of food in the mouth because it contains various enzymes which help catalyze and speed up the breakdown of the macronutrients into their simpler components. Carbohydrates are broken down via the enzyme salivary amylase. More specifically, amylase breaks down starch (a polysaccharide) which is made up of amylose and amylopectin into smaller starch units known as disaccharides and monosaccharides. Very
…show more content…
Segmentation (the sloshing motion that mixes chyme with the enzymes and chemical fluids in the small intestine) and pendular movement (a constrictive wave that involves forward and reverse movements and enhances nutrient absorption) will be the main contributors to mechanical digestion in the small intestine. The liver, gallbladder, and pancreas secrete enzymes, fluids, and hormones which will help in the chemical digestion of the macronutrients into their simplest components so that they can be absorbed by the body via villi and microvilli (known as the brush border) and eventually circulated through the blood stream and lymph

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    Yabbies Lab Report

    • 1361 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Digestion: Digestive track includes mouth, oesophagus, stomach, intestine and anus. It has two stomachs - The cardiac stomach is where the food is stored, where as the pyloric stomach is where most of the digestion occurs. It churns the food for mechanical digestion and uses digestive glands located either side of the stomach, producing digestive enzymes for chemical digestion. The food then passes through the antennal gland, which is the main excretory organ.…

    • 1361 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Est1 Task 2

    • 640 Words
    • 3 Pages

    When food is broken down in the stomach, it forms a substance called chyme which is a slurry of nutrients. The cells of the villi and another part of the small intestine, transport food from the digestive tract into the bloodstream, where they can be used by the body. When the slurry passes into the intestine, it gets in contact with…

    • 640 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    74-75) explained that an integral factor in enzymatic digestion is the pH of individual sections of the digestive tract. The highly acidic pH of the stomach’s gastric juice is needed to not only prevent bacterial growth, but to create an optimal environment for it’s enzymes to digest the food (now chyme) received through the cardioesophageal sphincter. The small intestine cannot handle such high pH, therefore when the stomach releases chyme into the small intestines, a signal is sent to the pancreas to release an alkaline substance called “sodium bicarbonate” to neutralize the chime’s acidic pH. Once neutralized, enzyme-rich pancreatic juices (neutral pH) work together with the enzymes of the cells found in the intestinal wall to facilitate digestion of the “three energy nutrients”. Bile (neutral pH) is secreted into the duodenum from the gallbladder (or liver-if someone is without the gallbladder) to emulsify fat for later absorption.…

    • 722 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    • The stomach secretes acid and enzymes that digest food. Ridges of muscle tissue called reggae line the stomach. The stomach muscles contract periodically, churning food to enhance digestion. The pyloric sphincter is a muscular valve that opens to allow food to pass from the stomach to the small intestine. Small intestine: • The small intestine or small bowel is the part of the gastrointestinal tract between the stomach and the large intestine, and is where most of the end absorption of food takes place.…

    • 784 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Chewing food starts the beginning stages of digestion. From here it goes into the small intestine. As the food passes through the GI tract it mixes with digestive juices causing large molecules to break down into smaller molecules. The small molecules then absorb through the walls of the small…

    • 687 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Digestive Lab Report

    • 564 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Within the small intestine, maltose is further broken down into glucose. Within the Protein digestion pepsin which is produced by the stomach digests protein to peptides and continues in the small intestine where trypsin carries out this same process. Lipids digestion end with monoglycerides (glycerol + one fatty acid) and fatty…

    • 564 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    A child came up to me today and ask me if he swallows a cookie what all happens to it. Once it enters the mouth, chemical and mechanical steps work to break the cookie into smaller pieces and remove its nutrients for use by the body. Tracing the digestion of a cookie involves a quick trip down your esophagus, a churn in the stomach and a slow, winding movement through the intestines. The Mouth…

    • 424 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Chapter Content: A Tour of the Human Digestive System Complete the following questions as you read the chapter content—A Tour of the Human Digestive System: 1. The long, hollow…

    • 129 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    1. Through which organs, and in what order does the bolus of food travel? • The bolus of food first travels to the oral cavity, pharynx, esophagus, stomach, small intestine, and then to the large intestine. 2. How long does the food remain in each segment of the digestive tract and what physiological processing takes place during this time?…

    • 1035 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Essay On Crohn's Disease

    • 584 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The digestive system is made up of the digestive tract, the pancreases, liver and the gall bladder. Track refers to hollow organs joined from the mouth all the way to the anus. Food is ingested in the mouth and moves along the digestive tract to the anus where waste is excreted. Along the digestive tract, food is digested and broken down into smaller food components that can be absorbed and utilized by the body. Nerves, blood, bacteria and the organs work together to complete digestion task.…

    • 584 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    • Small intestine: Most of the digestion takes place in the small intestine. Between the stomach and the large intestine. • Large intestine: The final section of the GI, main function absorbs remaining water & vitamins left over from the small intestine. Then transfer waste material into feces.…

    • 548 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Colon Cleansing Essay

    • 813 Words
    • 4 Pages

    During digestion, food is broken down in the mouth, stomach, and intestines. Many nutrients are absorbed in the small intestine into the circulation, while undigested food particles and waste are passed on to the large intestine (colon) for elimination. People normally pass stools once or twice a day, but some people may do this less frequently. The colon, therefore, also serves as storage of wastes until bowel movement occurs.…

    • 813 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    This tube is joined from the mouth to the anus. The food entering the mouth passes through the anus to the gastrointestinal. The digestive system helps break down food into nutrients, which is what our body needs for energy and growth. Our bodies break down the food we eat to carbohydrates, vitamins fats and protein. The anus is the opening at the end of the alimentary canal in which solid waste leaves the body.…

    • 200 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Digestive System Essay

    • 779 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Thus your saliva dissolves your food, making it smaller & easier to get down your throat. The starch in your great pretzel turns to sugar so that your body can easily digest it. Because our body has no desire to swallow the product separately, the tongue rolls the dissolved sugar into a ball & pushes it down into the esophagus. The esophagus is quite a strange place if you ask me. Using a process called peristalsis, the esophagus contracts, squeezing the food so it can be let down into your stomach.…

    • 779 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Type 2 Research Paper

    • 246 Words
    • 1 Pages

    Food enters through the mouth, and travels via the esophagus. The food goes into the stomach where is broken down in the stomach acids, following through to the first part of the small intestine(duodenum). Then it enters the pancreas,…

    • 246 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays

Related Topics