To adjust your daily diet, you need to try to understand how food is digested inside your body, get to know your digestive system more closely and in some detail, what it consists of, how different foods are digested inside it, and many other questions we help you answer in this article.
Definition of the digestive system:
The digestive system is known as the system responsible for digestion and absorption inside the body, where the food you eat is broken down into simpler forms as its basic components, then these components are absorbed and reformed into larger forms.
What does the digestive system consist of?
The digestive system comprises a group of hollow organs connected to each other from the mouth to the anus. These organs are the mouth, pharynx, esophagus, stomach, small intestine, liver, pancreas, duodenum, large intestine made of colon and rectum, and finally the anus.
The digestive system also contains a large amount of bacteria inside it called gut bacteria, which are responsible for digesting nutrients inside the body.
How do parts of the digestive system carry out digestion?
The digestion process happens in multiple stages where each part of the digestive system has its own role.
First: Salivary glands
Digestion starts in the mouth which has salivary glands that produce saliva to moisten food, making it easier to chew and swallow. It also contains the enzyme amylase that breaks down carbs in the mouth into sugars.
Second: The esophagus
The esophagus is the link between the mouth and stomach. Food moves from the mouth to the stomach through muscle contractions in the esophagus that push the food down into the stomach.
Third: The stomach
The stomach is an organ with a strong muscular wall that contracts to mix the food with acidic digestive juices. Carbs not digested in the mouth are digested here, and proteins are broken down into amino acids. Then these partly digested materials are moved to the start of the small intestine called the duodenum.
Fourth: The pancreas
It is located in the belly behind the stomach. It’s an organ about 25 cm long and releases pancreatic juice into the duodenum. This juice helps digest protein, starch, and fats.
Fifth: the duodenum
Here, pancreatic juice from the pancreas and bile from the liver are released onto the partly digested food coming gradually from the stomach. This balances the acidity of the food because the duodenum is alkaline.
Bile is a yellow-green liquid made in the liver. It helps break down fats into smaller parts so the body can absorb them better later. The bile is stored in the gallbladder, a small sac on the underside of the liver on the right side of the belly.
If the gallbladder is removed, bile flows directly into the small intestine without being concentrated. So, you need to watch the fatty foods you eat to avoid belly bloating and digestive problems.
Small intestine:
After food is digested in the start of the small intestine (the duodenum), it moves into the rest of the small intestine to make sure it's fully digested. Then it's absorbed through the intestine walls into the bloodstream, then to the liver. The undigested parts, like fiber, go to the large intestine to be expelled.
Liver:
After the blood loaded with the fully digested nutrients leaves the small intestine, it's sent to the liver for processing. The liver stores glucose as glycogen and also processes amino acids and glycerol.
Colon:
It's a part of the large intestine where the body's waste enters after digestion and absorption. The waste starts out liquid but hardens inside the large intestine because water and salts are absorbed. A mucus fluid coats it to help it move until it's expelled through the rectum as stool during intestinal contractions.
Bacteria:
A healthy human digestive system naturally has various bacteria. The more diverse they are, the healthier the body generally is. These bacteria mostly live in the large intestine where they benefit from undigested stuff like fiber by fermenting it and turning it into fats.
