The Digestive System: The Digestive System

Decent Essays
THE DIGESTIVE SYSTEM. Digestion is the natural and complex process of through which food particles taken through the mouth are broken down into simpler and soluble particles.
The process of digestion takes place in six primary processes which include:
1. The ingestion of food.
Ingestion is the process of taking in food into the mouth. This is where the work of the digestive system begins. Once the food is in the mouth the teeth crush the moistened food into fine paste until it is ready to be swallowed. Digestion of food begins once ingestion of food takes place in the mouth.
2. Secretion of fluids and digestive enzymes.
Secretion of fluids and digestive enzymes refers to the process where the body releases fluids helpful in the digestive process. Various secretions take place in the digestive system. In the mouth the salivary amylase is secreted that helps digestion of starch. The stomach secretes enzyme pepsin that breaks down proteins. The small intestines release enzymes amylase, trypsin and lipase that help in digestion of starch, proteins and fats respectively.
3. Mixing and movement of food and waste through the body.
The movement of food takes place along a long digestive tract referred to as the alimentary
…show more content…
Food moves to the small intestine from the stomach. The small intestine is divided into three parts. The duodenum, jejunum and the ileum. Food moves through the small intestine through peristalsis. The duodenum is involved in the further breakdown of food through the intestinal juice produced. The jejunum and the ileum are mainly responsible for the absorption of food nutrients into the body through the bloodstream (The digestive system and digestive disorders health centre 2013). The absorption of food takes place in small finger-like projections that are mainly referred to as villa. The remaining undigested material is passed on to the large

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    Yabbies Lab Report

    • 1361 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Background information: Breathing: They breathe oxygen through gills. Gills are respiratory organs found in aquatic organisms, which allow the Yabby to remove the oxygen from the water for respiration. Each leg has a gill attached, with the movement of the legs helping the circulation of water over these gills. There is a thin layer of exoskeleton separating the gills from the body cavity, allowing water to cover the gills without getting inside the body.…

    • 1361 Words
    • 6 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

    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
  • Superior Essays

    Normal pathophysiology of gastric acid stimulation and production. Normally the stomach holds around 50cc of fluid. There are several stimuli that work together in the complex process of the digestion process (Huether & McCance, 2012). There are three phases of gastric secretion, first being the cephalic phase, which is stimulated by the thoughts , smells and taste of food.…

    • 991 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Fetal Pig

    • 738 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The study of anatomy and physiology. Anatomy is the scientific term for the study of the body structure and physiology is the term for the study of the function of the body’s organs. During the class, we dissected a pig. We did it to compare the human body and its organ systems with the pig body because they are similar in function. We defined each system and the organs that belong to each one.…

    • 738 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Crohn's Disease Model

    • 879 Words
    • 4 Pages

    1. My model represents the digestive system excluding the mouth. The function of the digestive system is to ingest food, extract valuable nutrients from it, then excrete the wastes. The structure of the digestive system assists this function in many ways. The mouth is able to chew the food that we eat into smaller, easier to digest pieces (Cleveland).…

    • 879 Words
    • 4 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

    Homeostasis Assignment Jeanette Galvez ZOOL 2021.03 Instructor: Elizabeth Samuel Oct. 14 2015 The human digestive system involves the process of food throughout the body. The human body must break down the food to its basic form so that it may be properly absorbed and used. The human digestive system is essentially one big tube that starts from the mouth and moves its way down to the anus (Farabee 1992). The entire starts from the mouth where salivary glands along with teeth, starts to break down the food so that it may be more easily used.…

    • 785 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Epiglottis Research Paper

    • 149 Words
    • 1 Pages

    The esophagus passes food from the mouth to the stomach, and the esophageal sphincters allows the transportation of the passage from mouth to stomach and prevents back flow from stomach through the esophagus to the mouth. The stomach churns, mixes, and grinds food to a liquid mass; adding acid, enzymes, and fluids. The pyloric sphincter allows passage from stomach to small intestine; preventing back flow from small intestine. The…

    • 149 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Digestive begins as soon as food enters the oral cavity to the esophagus. Once it passes the esophagus it enters the stomach, which digests the food and helps enter into the small intestine. The small intestine is divided into…

    • 431 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Dog's Digestive System

    • 324 Words
    • 2 Pages

    The digestive system of a dog is composed of; the mouth, esophagus, stomach, small intestines, and large intestines but also requires help from organs such as the pancreas, and liver. The digestive systems roles are: digesting of food absorbing of nutrients Dog's digestive systems work differently to that of a human, for instance the digestion process begins in the stomach for dog's and in the mouth for humans. It is important for owners to have some idea of how the digestive system works in dog's so they can look out for symptoms that may signal the dog is unwell. The process of digestion begins after the food has passed through the mouth and traveled down the esophagus. The food then enters the stomach, and is broken down…

    • 324 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    To understand the Musculo-Skeletal system and how it is suited to the functions that it performs for the body you first need to understand how the system works and what it is responsible for. It is comprised of two separate systems working together as one to provide the body with physical support, the ability to move and protection for its major organs. These two systems are the Skeletal System and the Muscular System and they contain the following:-  Bones of the skeleton  Muscles  Cartilage  Tendons  Ligaments  Joints  Connective tissue binding to the body’s organs If you break the system down into its separate parts you can gain a deeper understanding of how they create a joint working system within the body.…

    • 1062 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Superior Essays

    The digestive system is made up of the alimentary canal which include the mouth or oral cavity, pharynx, esophagus, stomach, small intestines, and large intestines including the accessory organs of digestion which involve the teeth, tongue, salivary glands, liver, gall bladder and the pancreas. The alimentary canal and the accessory organs perform the following functions which include; ingestion, secretion,…

    • 1572 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Appendicitis Essay

    • 1233 Words
    • 5 Pages

    The Digestive System is a long complex system that is made up of many separate functional organs that make up the body functions. It starts in the mouth where food is being chewed, the salivary glands in the cheek & tongue mix with enzymes breaking down food then which food starts to enter the long passage way into to the GI.…

    • 1233 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Food Digestion Essay

    • 845 Words
    • 4 Pages

    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…

    • 845 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays

Related Topics