Ever wondered how your body miraculously turn your food into nutrients and energy that your body can use? Here are step by step process on how our human body digest, or turn food into useful nutrients our body could use.
Step 1: Mouth Digestion takes place right after your first bite of food. Chewing breaks up the food to aid the digestion process. The food then mixes with saliva to help go down the Esophagus, as well as break down the food.
Step 2: The Esophagus The esophagus is a tube that connects your throat to your stomach. As food enters the esophagus, salivary glands releases saliva to make it easier for food to travel through. It uses contractions, called peristalsis, to transport …show more content…
From there the chyme goes into the small intestine.
Step 4: The Small Intestine The small intestine is a long tube coiled in the abdomen, approximately 20 feet long spread out. The small intestine continues to break down the food by enzymes, released from the Pancreas, and the bile. Peristalsis, also used in Esophagus and Stomach, is again used to move food through and mix with enzymes and the bile. Bile, produced from the liver and released from the Gallbladder, is a compound that helps the digestion of fat and removes waste from the blood. In the small intestine, there are three main steps: The duodenum, the jejunum, and the ileum. The duodenum is largely responsible for continuing the process of breaking down food, while the jejunum and ileum are mainly responsible for the absorption of nutrients through the enzymes. These enzymes break down protein, fat, and carbohydrates from the food. After the food has passed through the small intestine, approximately 90% of the nutrients have been absorbed by the body. It then continues to your Large Intestine, or the Colon
Step 5: The Large Intestine (Colon) The leftovers from the small intestine now goes into the large intestine. The large intestine is a 5 - 6 foot long tube that connects the small intestine to the rectum. It is primarily composed of four parts: the ascending colon, the transverse colon, the descending