The digestive system explained

The digestive system has a wide variety of functions and enables your body to break down foods and absorb the nutrients from them. This essential system comprises several organs and hundreds of different hormones, chemicals and physiological processes.

Let’s break down the various parts of the digestive system.

Mouth

Digestion starts in the mouth, where your teeth start mechanical digestion as you chew through your food. At the same time, digestive enzymes (such as salivary amylase) in your saliva start to break down large food molecules into smaller particles that travel down to your stomach for further digestion.

Esophagus

When you swallow food, it enters your esophagus, where smooth muscle pushes the food down through a process called peristalsis. At the end of the esophagus, this half-broken-down food enters the stomach.

Stomach

The stomach continues to break down the food you’ve eaten. Stomach acid and enzymes further digest the food into chyme before it travels into the small intestines.

Small intestines

Chyme moves into the small intestine, the area of the digestive system where most of the nutrients in the food you eat are absorbed. They enter the bloodstream through the small intestinal wall, where they can fuel the rest of your body and your brain.

Large intestines

What is left of the chyme moves down into the large intestine, where the water is removed from it to form a harder stool. You will eventually pass this stool through your rectal passage.

Liver and pancreas

Although food doesn’t pass directly through the liver or pancreas, they are essential digestive organs. The liver produces bile, which helps emulsify and break down fats. The pancreas secretes digestive enzymes into the small intestine to aid the metabolism of food.