The digestive system provides two major functions, digestion and absorption. Foods must be digested in order for their nutrients to be absorbed. Saliva glands begin the digestive process at the sight and smell of food. After food enters the mouth and is moisten by saliva and chewed by the teeth, it transforms into bolus. Once the bolus leaves the mouth, it moves to the pharynx where it can be swallowed. The bolus then moves from the pharynx in to the esophagus, which connects the pharynx to the stomach. Once the bolus reaches the stomach it is mixed with acid secretions to transform the bolus into chime, which is a semiliquid food mass. Food is partially digested in the stomach, and chime empties in two to three hours depending on the size and type of food ingested.
Large Intestine: Portion of gastrointestinal tract, which includes the colon and rectum, in which some absorption of water and vitamins take place. Mouth: With this the food begins, the point at, which food enters the digestive tract. Small Intestine: Tube-shaped organ of the digestive tract where digestion of ingested food is completed and the majority of nutrient absorption occur. Stomach: This is the organ in the digestive tract, in which mixes food and secretes gastric juices. An empty stomach has a volume of approximately 50 mL. However, typically after a meal, its capacity expands to about one liter of food, and may expand to hold as much as four liters. The chyme slowly exits the stomach via the pyloric sphincter or valve and passes into the duodenum - the first segment of the small intestine - where digestion continues.
[“The digestive tract processes a multitude of different food components each day through the use of a wide variety of enzymes and digestive juices. Carbohydrates, fats and proteins all pass through the digestive system at a different pace, are broken down into unique components and are absorbed into the body for use as fuel or to repair and build muscles, bones and...