system for your child

What is the digestive system?

The digestive system is responsible for breaking down the food we eat into smaller components so that nutrients can easily be absorbed by the body, eliminating waste.

There are two types of digestion

Mechanical digestion: is the conversion of large pieces of food into smaller pieces through chewing

Chemical digestion: Enzymes that break down this food mass into small molecules that the body can separate and use.

What is the digestive system made of?

Your digestive system is made up of a ton of parts, most of which are located in the middle of your torso.

Its parts work as a team to break down food into beneficial nutrients that the body can use, and each organ has its own role.

a. esophagus

The esophagus is the path that food travels from your mouth to your stomach for digestion to begin.

NS. stomach

The stomach plays an important role in digesting food, as it is full of strong acids that break food down into smaller parts.

NS. liver

The liver s various enzymes to help process the nutrients that are collected in the small intestine.

NS. Gallbladder

The gallbladder is a storage unit for bile, and for enzymes d by the liver, it stores it until it is needed to be digested.

NS. pancreas

The liver doesn''t have to enzymes on its own. The pancreas is there to help. It makes enzymes to help break down food in the small intestine.

Dr.. Small intestine

The main task of the small intestine is the absorption of nutrients, minerals from food, in fact, 90% of food absorption takes place here, making it the main site of digestion.

NS. Large intestine

This is the final destination for your food before it leaves your body as waste. In the large intestine, any water used during digestion is reabsorbed, causing food residues to solidify.

NS. straight

The rectum is the ticket for your food to leave your body as waste.

How does food turn into energy?

The digestive process begins the moment you take your first bite, the saliva in your mouth begins to break down the food as you chew it.

After you swallow your food, it travels down your esophagus, into your stomach, and is broken down by stomach acids.

It is then passed into the small intestine, where most of the digestion takes place. This process takes about six to eight hours to complete.

Once all the nutrients have been absorbed into the small intestine, the leftover food is moved to the large intestine to remove any excess water.

After that, the food remains are expelled from the body as waste.

Simple facts about the digestive system

Food takes about seven seconds to travel from your mouth to your stomach.

The small intestine of a woman is longer than that of a man.

Your stomach acid is able to dissolve minerals.

The entire digestive system is 29 feet long.

Your mouth works like a refrigerator or a microwave, depending on the food you''re eating, helping to heat or cool the food so it''s right for your body.

The saliva in our mouths plays a key role in initial digestion by moistening food to aid in the mechanical process of chewing and swallowing, and saliva also contains an enzyme that initiates the chemical digestion of starchy foods.

The salivary glands produce about 1.5 liters of saliva per day

The pharynx, at the back of the throat, has a flap of tissue called the epiglottis that closes during swallowing to prevent food from going down the windpipe.

Once swallowed, the food travels down the esophagus and into the stomach, and the process takes about 7 seconds to get there.

Muscles in the esophagus tighten and relax to a wave-like process called peristalsis, which pushes food down the small tube.

Enzymes called proteases break down proteins within the stomach and small intestine, while in saliva, amylase breaks down carbohydrates, and lipase to break down fats.

On average, the small intestine of an adult male is 6.9 m (22 ft 6 in) and in female 7.1 m (23 ft 4 in).

The large intestine includes the cecum, colon, and rectum, and is the last part of the digestive system, which absorbs water from food that cannot be digested and passes any unwanted waste from the body.

The inner wall of the stomach secretes hydrochloric acid to help kill bacteria, as well as protease enzymes, which aid in the digestion of food.

The large intestine is about 1.5 meters (4.9 ft) long.