Is this right, have i missed anything?
The start of the process – the mouth: The digestive process begins in the mouth. Food is partly broken down by the process of chewing and by the chemical action of salivary enzymes (these enzymes are produced by the salivary glands and break down starches into smaller molecules).
On the way to the stomach: the esophagus – After being chewed and swallowed, the food enters the esophagus. The esophagus is a long tube that runs from the mouth to the stomach. It uses rhythmic, wave-like muscle movements (called peristalsis) to force food from the throat into the stomach. This muscle movement gives us the ability to eat or drink even when we’re upside-down.
In the stomach – The stomach is a large, sack-like organ that churns the food and bathes it in a very strong acid (gastric acid). Food in the stomach that is partly digested and mixed with stomach acids is called chyme.
In the small intestine – After being in the stomach, food enters the duodenum, the first part of the small intestine. It then enters the jejunum and then the ileum (the final part of the small intestine). In the small intestine, bile (produced in the liver and stored in the gall bladder), pancreatic enzymes, and other digestive enzymes produced by the inner wall of the small intestine help in the breakdown of food.
In the large intestine – After passing through the small intestine, food passes into the large intestine. In the large intestine, some of the water and electrolytes (chemicals like sodium) are removed from the food. Many microbes (bacteria like Bacteroides, Lactobacillus acidophilus, Escherichia coli, and Klebsiella) in the large intestine help in the digestion process. The first part of the large intestine is called the cecum (the appendix is connected to the cecum). Food then travels upward in the ascending colon. The food travels across the abdomen in the transverse colon, goes back down the other side of the body in the descending colon, and then through the sigmoid colon.
The end of the process – Solid waste is then stored in the rectum until it is excreted via the anus.
It’s for my homework, i don’t know weather to mention the ph in the mouth and in the stomach…how would i fit that in so that it runs smoothly? Also could i say the salivary glands break down the food into suger molocules? Or is that in correct?……and do i have any spelling mistakes?
Thanks xxx
Tagged with: ascending colon • cecum • descending colon • digestive enzymes • digestive process • gall bladder • jejunum • klebsiella • lactobacillus acidophilus • large intestine • microbes bacteria • muscle movement • muscle movements • part of the small intestine • salivary enzymes • salivary glands • sigmoid colon • stomach acids • transverse colon • water and electrolytes
Filed under: Colon Health Questions
Denisedds (88)
You have described it excellently! And I did not catch any spelling errors. Well done.
The only (and very essential) thing that it missing is where the food is absorbed. That is of course the main reason we eat! We need to absorb the nutrients.
That part of the digestion takes place in the small intestine, starting in the duodenum, but it takes place in the other small intestine parts as well. The function of the small intestine therefore is food absorption.
In the colon, water and electrolytes are absorbed, as well as the small chain fatty acids (SCFA) that are made by the bacteria that you already described. In the small intestine a lot of nutrients are absorbed by the human body, but there is still a lot of undigested stuff left by the time the food reaches the large intestine. The bacteria in the large intestine, however, are capable of breaking down those remnants, and they will turn that into the SCFA. The cells of the colon will then absorb those SCFA. If we did not have those bacteria, we could not absorb all the energy in our food.